Regulatory Transactions

From: Telecom Law Monitor

by Chip Yorkgitis

We posted recently on rules the Federal Communications Commissions (FCC or Commission) adopted in January modifying the scope of and particulars of the  annual International Traffic and Revenue reports and Circuit Status reports many international providers must file annually.   The effective date of those rules, which will extend certain reporting requirements to one- and two-way international VoIP providers and non-common carrier submarine cable licensees, was made dependent on Office of Budget and Management (OMB) review, which created some uncertainty about whether the new regulations would apply to this year’s reports.

From: Washington Examiner

Paul Bedard

Complying with the raging tsunami of new Obamacare rules and regulations will cost American businesses and families 127 million hours annually, enough time to carve out another 1,039 Mount Rushmores which took 14 years complete, according to a new House report.

Based on figures from President Obama’s own Office of Management and Budget and Internal Revenue Service, the new report provided to Secrets reveals that the health reform law set to fully go into effect in 11 months will be the most costly federal burden to hit American in generations. And that hardship will grow as more rules are released.

From: Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute

In a meeting attended by ICPI, OSHA announced that it expects to publish the long-waited, much-delayed proposed regulation of crystalized silica exposures in the workplace (the Silica regulation) in May 2013.

So said OSHA Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Jordan Barab at a January 25 meeting among business lobbying groups.

The rule has been written for some time but has been delayed under review in the White House Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA).  While OIRA is charged to review proposed regulations for a period of ninety days, the review of the silica regulation is beginning its third year.

From: RegWatch/The Hill’s Regulation Blog

By Megan R. Wilson

Lobbyists are lining up to meet with Obama administration officials about rules that would require medical companies to disclose financial relationships with doctors, according to records released by the White House.

The rules set forth by the Affordable Care Act reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in November — way behind schedule set by Congress. Interest groups and Congress have since called for the administration to speed the process along. OIRA has up to 90 days to conduct a review, giving it until Feb. 27.

From:  Healthwatch/The Hill’s Healthcare blog

By Sam Baker

The White House budget office is reviewing new rules to implement benefit requirements in President Obama’s signature healthcare law.

The regulation could be issued this month — a review from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is typically one of the last steps before regulations are published.

The rules recently submitted to OMB deal with exemptions from the rules for “minimum essential coverage” — the standards that coverage has to meet to satisfy the healthcare law’s individual mandate, which requires most taxpayers to either buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

From: Environmental Protection

I would expect some action on ozone, some forward progress to happen on ozone, in the coming year,” says Christopher Ahlers, a fellow at the Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic who is teaching an elective course on air pollution law and policy this semester.

By Jerry Laws

From: JD Supra Law News

From: FederalNewsRadio.com 1500AM

By Michael O’Connell

On Christmas Eve, The White House released the Current Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, a compilation of agencies’ plans for new regulations.

But the document has stirred controversy for a number of reasons, not least because it was published nine months late. Republican lawmakers have accused the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of trying to hide those plans from the public.

From: GovInfoSecurity

Overdue HIPAA Modifications Top the List

By Marianne Kolbasuk McGee

A long-overdue omnibus package that includes HIPAA modifications tops the list of regulations dealing with health data privacy and security issues that are pending for 2013.

Also pending is an accounting of disclosures rule that, in early draft form, called for providing patients, upon request, with reports listing everyone who accessed their electronic health information. Plus, rules for Stage 3 of the HITECH Act electronic health record incentive program, which begins in 2016, are in development.

From: Washington Times

By Tim Devaney

The Obama administration is pushing back  against critics who have accused the president of unleashing a “regulatory  tsunami” against the business community.

In a long-delayed report from the White  House Office of Management and Budget, released just before the long holiday  weekend, a senior administration official, speaking “on background,” said the  list of new regulations for 2013 is actually shorter than it was in 2011 and  2012.

“This 2012 agenda makes clear that there is no ‘regulatory tsunami’ coming  from this administration,” the source said. “It actually includes slightly fewer  economically significant active rulemakings from executive agencies than the  previous two agendas.”