Setting and Enforcing Regulations | Center for Effective Government

The Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy Exaggerates Its Influence

The Office of Advocacy, an independent office within the Small Business Administration (SBA), recently released its annual report to Congress on agency compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) during fiscal year (FY) 2012. In the report, the office makes dubious claims that its efforts to delay or stop six agency rules saved billions for small businesses in the last fiscal year.

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Former Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator Paints Unrecognizably Rosy Picture of Rule Reviews

Cass Sunstein, former Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator, recently penned an article, "OIRA: Myths and Realities," which purports to explain what OIRA really does when it reviews proposed and final rules submitted by agencies under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563. Sunstein's claims differ greatly from what agencies and public interest advocates say happens behind closed doors at OIRA.

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Anti-Regulatory Forces Target Agency Science to Undermine Health and Safety Standards

As committees of the 113th Congress begin to implement their agendas, it is increasingly apparent that environmental and health standards, and the science serving as the basis for these protections, will remain a favorite target of anti-regulatory legislators. Last session's industry-supported proposals to change scientific assessment programs would undermine environmental, health, and safety standards, yet they are likely to reappear. Meanwhile, new investigations underscore that these measures ignore the real impediments to improving the credibility and usefulness of agency science and risk assessments.

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Disclosure at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Written Comments and Telephone Records Suspiciously Absent

In 1981, President Reagan signed an executive order charging the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) with reviewing all economically significant rules and rejecting those that did not pass a strict cost-benefit test. Supporters of environmental, consumer, and worker protection standards have long criticized the office for failing to make its analyses public. Moreover, the office has a reputation for meeting with industry interests behind closed doors and for engaging in intrusive back-and-forth exchanges with agencies over proposed rules. This often results in the office delaying, watering down, or blocking new standards and safeguards.

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The Obama Administration's Regulatory Agenda: Many Overdue Rules Need to Be Finalized to Fulfill Legislative and Public Safety Promises

Each year, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is supposed to publish two agendas of planned rules and at least one regulatory plan summarizing economically significant rulemakings likely to move forward in the near future. In 2012, the Obama administration skipped the spring agenda entirely and did not publish the fall agenda until December, likely because of the elections. The plan that finally emerged contains some positive measures but does not go far enough to significantly advance consumer, workplace safety, or environmental protections.

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Anti-Regulatory Bill Would Limit the SEC's Ability to Protect Investors

A pending anti-regulatory bill that targets independent regulatory agencies would significantly curtail the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) ability to protect investors from financial fraud and other economic hazards. The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act of 2012 (S. 3468) would require independent agencies to conduct formal cost-benefit analyses for all significant rules and would allow the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to review those analyses. This would cause lengthy delays in implementing the financial oversight contained in the Dodd-Frank law.

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Underestimating the Benefits of Public Protections

In a September article, OMB Watch highlighted how difficult it is for everyday Americans to find information on the benefits of the standards and safeguards that protect and improve our quality of life. In this piece, we describe how agencies identify benefits and assign a monetary value to them. If agencies either underestimate or undervalue the benefits of a proposed safeguard, it could be rejected by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), and important protections could be delayed for years, leaving the health and safety of American workers and families at risk.

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New Report Examines the Regulatory Tsunami That Wasn't

WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2012—Business interests and their allies on Capitol Hill have escalated their rhetoric over the number of regulations coming out of the Obama administration. OMB Watch today released a report, The Regulatory Tsunami That Wasn't, that shows little difference between the Obama administration and past administrations in their overall level of regulatory activity, nor is there evidence that a "flood" of new rules will be unleashed after the November elections.

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Highlighting the Benefits in Cost-Benefit Analysis

Over the past several years, the conversation about regulatory protections that safeguard the environment, worker safety, and the health and welfare of American families has focused almost exclusively on the monetary costs to affected businesses rather than on the benefits they provide to everyday citizens. Conservatives repeat false or exaggerated cost estimates and overblown anti-regulatory rhetoric. And too often, news articles fail to report on the benefits of the standards and safeguards they are criticizing, making for a very one-sided public discussion.

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Sponsors of the Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act Try to Slip Bill in Under the Radar

The Independent Agency Regulatory Analysis Act (S. 3468), introduced on Aug. 1 by Sens. Mark Warner (D-VA), Rob Portman (R-OH), and Susan Collins (R-ME), may appear to be just another item in the string of anti-regulatory legislation considered, but not enacted, by the 112th Congress. Unfortunately, because it boasts both Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, it appears to be heading straight to mark-up within the Senate's Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC).

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