Setting and Enforcing Regulations

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

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Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

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Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

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Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

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Legislative Update: Bills to Watch

The following is an update on bills introduced so far in the 109th Congress that could affect regulatory policy in the public interest. By Bill Number | By Subject Bills to Watch H.R. 185 — Program Assessment and Results Act

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H.R. 682 - Reg Flex Burden Bill: first step to regulatory sunsets

H.R. 682 — Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act POSITION: We OPPOSE this bill. Description First step in the direction of regulatory sunsets. The jusitification for reg sunsets is that older regs should expired because they are outdated, but some older regs -- like the phase-out of lead in gasoline -- are still the right thing to do even decades later. This bill would increase the burdensome and unnecessary navel-gazing of the Reg Flex Act and link those periodic reviews with assessments whether older rules should be rescinded.

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H.R. 185 - PAR Act

H.R. 185 — Program Assessment and Results Act POSITION: We OPPOSE this bill. Description

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H.R. 1229 - Attack on Consent Decrees

H.R. 1229 — Consent Decree Fairness Act POSITION: We OPPOSE this bill. Description Attacks consent decrees (the agreements that resolve cases so that they don't have to go all the way to trial) in federal court cases against state and local governments for violating federal law and ignoring your rights. Would require these agreements to expire any time there is a change in administration or every four years. Makes civil rights litigation against state and local governments more uncertain. 3/1/2005--Introduced.

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S. 489 - Attack on Consent Decrees

S. 489 — Consent Decree Fairness Act POSITION: We OPPOSE this bill. Description Attacks consent decrees (the agreements that resolve cases so that they don't have to go all the way to trial) in federal court cases against state and local governments for violating federal law and ignoring your rights. Would require these agreements to expire any time there is a change in administration or every four years. Makes civil rights litigation against state and local governments more uncertain. 3/1/2005--Introduced.

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