Regulatory Transactions

From: RegBlog

Michael A. Livermore

Cost-benefit analysis, while embraced by both political parties over the course of the past three decades, is still feared by many progressives in the United States.  But as environmental concerns have spread around the world, this tool is lighting a path in many developing countries toward a new generation of environmental policies to protect public health, climate stability, and natural resources.  This new role for cost-benefit analysis challenges the sometimes stale and suffocating way in which discussions over cost-benefit analysis are often framed here at home.

Editor’s Note:  Another name for “Sue and Settle” is Regulation by Litigation.

From: RegBlog

Eric Lorber

Can private individuals and organizations use so-called “sue and settle” lawsuits to set federal environmental regulatory policy without going through the normal regulatory process?

Concerned that environmental groups are employing this tactic to secure environmentally-friendly regulations, congressional Republicans have proposed the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act of 2013. The Act – sponsored by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Representative Doug Collins (R-GA) – aims to prevent these sue and settle lawsuits, which  arguably allow environmental groups to undermine the public’s ability to comment on pending regulations.

From: HuffPo/Project on Government Oversight

By Scott Amey

Last month, Norman Dong from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was a presenter at the Maryland Association of Certified Public Accountants (MACPA) conference in College Park, Maryland. Dong’s presentation explained how the Obama administration is working to be more efficient and cost effective. For example, he summarized ways OMB is improving federal financial management through administrative savings, reducing property usage, cracking down on improper payments to individuals and medical providers, and adding transparency. These were central themes in the president’s proposed FY 2014 Budget, too.

From: RegWatch/The Hill’s Regulation Blog

By Julian Hattem and Ben Goad

While employees at some federal agencies are already taking unpaid time off, many regulatory agencies are dodging sequestration’s cleaver.

It’s not just air traffic controllers who are escaping furloughs triggered by across-the-board spending cuts.

While employees at some federal agencies are already taking unpaid time off, those at many regulatory agencies are dodging sequestration’s cleaver.

More than two months since the sweeping across-the-board federal budget cuts first hit, and days after President Obama signed a bill to keep air traffic controllers on the job, many agencies continue to have no plans to hand out furlough notices.

From: RegWatch/The Hill

By Megan R. Wilson

The printing and graphic design industry wants the Obama administration to  hurry up and regulate the rags that are used to sop up hazardous chemicals.

The draft of a final rule from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has  been sitting at the White House for more than a year, and the Printing  Industries of America and the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association had one  question for the White House during a meeting last week: Where’s our rule?

From: Heritage Foundation

By James L. Gattuso and Diane Katz

From: Bloomberg/BNA

By Amena H. Saiyid

The Environmental Protection Agency and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation reached an agreement late April 29 to give the agency an additional 30 days to propose a rule that would potentially expand the universe of regulated concentrated animal feeding operations.

“EPA and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have agreed to extend the deadline for a proposed CAFO rule for 30 days from April 30, 2013,” the agency told BNA said in a statement.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation spokesman John Surrick also confirmed that the deadline had been postponed.

From: Mercatus Center/George Mason University

Jerry Brito, Eli Dourado, Adam Thierer

In the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 (FMRA),[1] Congress tasked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) with integrating unmanned aircraft systems (UASs), sometimes referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, into the National Airspace System by September 2015. As part of that effort, Congress directed the FAA to establish six test ranges to serve as integration pilot projects.[2] On February 22, 2013, the FAA issued a notice in the Federal Register announcing the process for selection of the sites and a request for public comment on its “proposed approach for addressing the privacy questions raised by the public and Congress with regard to the operation of unmanned aircraft systems within the test site program.”[3]

From: The Hill

By Megan R. Wilson

The White House is conducting a final review of a proposal from the  healthcare reform law that would cut federal grants for hospitals that serve  poor patients.

The facilities, known as Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH), are  eligible for state and federal funding to balance out the amount they spend  caring for patients who are unable to pay their bills.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent more than $17 billion  on payments to DSHs in 2011, according to a Government Accountability Office  study. The Affordable Care Act aimed to slash those grants exponentially  from 2014-2020, starting with a $500 million cut next year.

From: George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center

By Susan Dudley

The Office of Management and Budget quietly released its draft 2013 Report to Congress on the Benefits and Costs of Regulationson Friday, April 19, covering regulatory activity through the end (September 30) of fiscal year 2012.

Recall that, as the presidential election approached, the White House was widely reported to be restraining the regulatory agencies out of concern for the state of the economy.  Now that the results are tallied, however, there is little evidence of restraint.  By the administration’s own estimates, the rules it issued in FY2012 alone imposed more costs on the economy than all the rules issued during the entire first terms of Presidents Bush and Clinton, combined.