Regulatory Transactions

From: E & E News

Hannah Hess, E&E News reporter

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The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs’ Jim Laity, a career staffer who leads the Natural Resources and Environment Branch, said yesterday his office is “actively working on thinking about the guidance” Trump gave in March.

With the Trump agenda focused on regulatory rollback, federal agencies haven’t yet issued rules that require valuations of carbon emissions, “although they are working on something coming in the not-too-distant future,” Laity told an audience attending the National Academy of Sciences’ seminar on valuing climate change impacts.

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From: UtilityDIVE

Robert Walton

Dive Brief:

• President’s Trump’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan is now being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget, a necessary step before it can be released for public comment.
• The Hill reports the form of Trump’s plan remains unknown, but it is expected to include a complete rollback of the Obama-era power plant rules.
• OMB typically takes about two months to review a rule, but can take additional time.

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From: Daily Report for Executives

By Cheryl Bolen

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The rule in question is EPA’s final rule on Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Standards for the Dental Category, which sets new standards to reduce discharges of mercury from dental offices into municipal sewage treatment plants.

However, the rule doesn’t appear to comply with Executive Order 13771 on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs, which requires that any significant regulation issued after noon on Jan. 20 include two deregulatory actions and be completely offset.

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From: The Hill

By Timothy Cama

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The White House’s Office of Management and Budget said early Friday that it received the proposed “review” of the rule Thursday from the EPA.

OMB review is the final step before the EPA can release the proposal publicly and start the required process of accepting public comments.

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From: Bloomberg Law/BNA

By Michaela Ross

An Obama-era rule that would make it easier for foreign-born entrepreneurs to launch U.S. startups may be delayed after the Trump administration ordered a fresh review weeks before the rule was slated to take effect.

The Homeland Security Department quietly sent the rule back to the Office of Management and Budget last month, possibly stalling it. Immigration lawyers, venture capitalists and startup founders are unsure about the fate of regulations that some entrepreneurs were counting on to launch their businesses in the U.S. this summer. The rule was set to take effect July 17, but questions have been raised about whether the new review may be the Trump administration’s first step toward killing it.

Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from Regulatory Cybersecurity/FISMA Focus.

From: Notice & Comment |  A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Nina Gunther Kilbride

As new uses of blockchain technology become more varied and appealing, the issue of appropriate regulatory structure is a common legal theme.

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Regulations for harnessing infinite digital potential.

As to new rules, a light touch should guide regulator action. The guidance of legal history is instructive in this regard, particularly for lawyers trained in U.S. common and commercial law systems. Blockchain technology will enable commercial systems to harness the productive potential of digital territory similarly to how railroads and highways allowed the U.S. to harness the productive resources of American lands and people.

From: The Washington Free Beacon

Trump’s new labor secretary refused to delay controversial rule

BY: Bill McMorris

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Acosta indicated in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the department would move forward with the rule, while leaving open the possibility of amending it. He said that he would follow through on Trump’s call for a review of the regulation and seek additional public comment and input from the industry, as well as financial watchdogs.

Editor’s Note: For more information on Hartland, WI’s fight against the FDA/Center for Tobacco Products in order to save the lives and jobs of its residents, see here and here.

From: The Washington Examiner | Opinion

by Kathy Hoekstra, contributor

A small village in Wisconsin has put the Food and Drug Administration on notice over the agency’s controversial tobacco “deeming” regulation.

At issue is whether the FDA followed federal law which requires agencies to “coordinate” with state and local governments before implementing regulations to ensure minimal economic harm. The statute is part of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1976.

From: The National Law Review

Article By Anna Claire Skinner, Carolyn M. Brown | Dinsmore & Shohl LLP

From: Notice & Comment | A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Andrew M. Grossman

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In the main, the Trump Administration has acted through executive orders to build upon the regulatory reform efforts of previous administrations, including cost-benefit analysis and centralized review through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA. What is remarkable about Trump’s Executive Order 13,777, unwieldily entitled “Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda,” is the great degree of continuity it represents with the practices of previous administrations, including with the Clinton Administration’s Executive Order 12,866 regarding regulatory planning and review and the Obama Administration’s Executive Order 13,563 regarding retrospective review. In general, it maintains the regulatory review process and central cost-benefit criterion of previous administrations.