New Presidential Executive Order on Regulatory Reform Agenda

On Friday, February 24, the White House published a new executive order titled “ENFORCING THE REGULATORY REFORM AGENDA.” The executive order is meant to create a framework to implement and enforce regulatory reform. The order directs agencies to create regulatory reform task forces to evaluate existing regulations to repeal, replace, or modify.

The executive order has six sections. A brief summary of each section follows.

Section 1 – Sets the policy of the United States to “alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens.”

Section 2 – The head of each agency (except those receiving waivers) must  designate a Regulatory Reform Officer (RRO) within 60 days of publication of the order. The RRO is to oversee the implementation of the regulatory reform agenda and report to the agency head.

Section 3 – Each agency is instructed to create a regulatory reform task force with an RRO serving to chair each task force, unless another official is designated by the agency head. Entities staffed by multiple agencies are also required to create regulatory reform task forces. The task forces’ objectives are to evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to repeal, replace, or modify. They should also seek input from entities affected by the regulation and provide a report to the agency head within 90 days detailing the agency’s progress at implementing the regulatory reform agenda and identifying regulations. At a minimum, the task forces are to identify regulations that fall into the following categories:

1. eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation;
2. are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective;
3. impose costs that exceed benefits;
4. create a serious inconsistency or interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies;
5. rely on data or methods that are not publicly available or lack sufficient transparency; and
6. derive from past executive orders that have been rescinded or substantially modified.

Section 4 – Each agency is required to measure its performance in performing the tasks outlined in the executive order.

Section 5 – The OMB Director may issue a waiver to those agencies that publish few regulations and must publish which agencies receive waivers.

Section 6 – Miscellaneous provisions ensuring that the order does not have unintended adverse effects.

NAHRO commends the administration’s goals to streamline those regulations that are outdated, unnecessary, ineffective, or impose costs that exceed benefits and looks forward to working with HUD’s regulatory reform task force to achieve these goals.

The full order can be read here.