There are two main areas in which Congress can enact meaningful reform. The first is to rein in regulatory guidance documents, which we refer to as “regulatory dark matter,” whereby agencies regulate through Federal Register notices, guidance documents, and other means outside standard rulemaking procedure. The second is to enact a series of reforms to increase agency transparency and accountability of all regulation and guidance. These include annual regulatory report cards for rulemaking agencies and regulatory cost estimates from the Office of Management and Budget for more than just a small subset of rules.
In 2019, President Trump signed two executive orders aimed at stopping the practice of agencies using guidance documents to effectively implement policy without going through the legally required notice and comment process.
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News Release
Update in CEI’s case against Wisconsin’s unconstitutional rule barring voter participation in prediction markets
Yesterday, a District Court denied CEI’s motion for a preliminary injunction against Wisconsin’s rule denying voters the right to participate in election prediction market…
Blog
The regulatory dark matter beyond Washington’s graveyard of rules: 83,141 ghosts and counting
The clocks have turned back, the days are growing darker, and Washington’s regulatory shadows lengthen. Washington’s policy ghouls are waking up to the fact…
Blog
The week in regulations: Space modernization and closed captioning
Sir Patrick Stewart passed away at age 86. GDP growth came in higher than average for the third quarter, but so did September’s PCE…
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Freedom Fighter
The war to advance economic liberty will last forever. The effort is frustrating and often discouraging. Many freedom fighters burn out, retire from the field,…
Op-Eds
The Case Against Racial ‘Balancing’ Schemes
The editorial “A Different Race Case” argued that Seattle’s use of race in assigning students to schools should be upheld by the Supreme Court…
News Release
New Book ECO-FREAKS Reveals Destructive Environmental Agenda
Contacts: Peter Nasaw, (212) 966-4600, Christine Hall, (202) 331-2258 Washington, D.C., November 28, 2006—Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring advice actually killed…
Op-Eds
Al Gore is Captain Planet
The DVD version of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth is released this week. In addition to the movie, the DVD will feature a…
Op-Eds
Unhappy Days Are Here Again
“The American people voted for change and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction,” said a triumphant Nancy…
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Friedman’s Legacy
Though I never met him, Milton Friedman, who has died aged 94, was one of the earliest influences on my political development. In…
Staff & Scholars
Clyde Wayne Crews
Fred L. Smith Fellow in Regulatory Studies
- Business and Government
- Consumer Freedom
- Deregulation
Ryan Young
Senior Economist and Director of Publications
- Antitrust
- Business and Government
- Regulatory Reform
Fred L. Smith, Jr.
Founder; Chairman Emeritus
- Automobiles and Roads
- Aviation
- Business and Government
Sam Kazman
Counsel Emeritus
- Antitrust
- Automobiles and Roads
- Banking and Finance
Marlo Lewis, Jr.
Senior Fellow
- Climate
- Energy
- Energy and Environment