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Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions

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The Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (also known as the Unified Regulatory Agenda or Unified Agenda) is a semiannual publication of recently completed, ongoing, and anticipated federal regulatory actions, issued every spring and fall by the Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC). It combines regulatory agendas and other required reports and information from approximately 60 departments, agencies, and commissions of the federal government. The Unified Agenda is used by government officials, Congress, the president, regulated parties, and members of the general public.[1][2][3][4]

Background

Beginning with a 1978 executive order issued by President Jimmy Carter, a majority of federal agencies have been required to compile and publish regulatory agendas with information about recently completed, ongoing, and anticipated regulatory and deregulatory actions. Executive Order 12866, issued by President Bill Clinton in 1993, established a uniform process for agencies to compile and submit regulatory agendas. The Unified Agenda is compiled and published by the Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC), a component of the General Services Administration.[4][3][5]

The Unified Agenda was published in the Federal Register until 2007. Since the fall of 2007, the entire Unified Agenda has been published online at RegInfo.gov, a government website maintained by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) and RISC. Past editions of the Unified Agenda going back to the fall of 1995 can be found there. A condensed version of the Unified Agenda, usually limited to the annual Regulatory Plan and semiannual regulatory flexibility agendas, is still published in the Federal Register each year.[1][4][6]

Requirements

The Unified Agenda, published semiannually in the spring and fall of each year, combines individual regulatory agendas and other required reports and information from approximately 60 departments, agencies, and commissions. These requirements do not include agencies of the United States Congress and do not apply to agency regulations related to internal organization, personnel, or other aspects of agency management. Agencies and regulations pertaining to the military and foreign affairs are also generally exempt from these requirements.[1][2]

Executive Order 12866

Executive Order 12866, issued by Bill Clinton in 1993, requires agencies to compile regulatory agendas with information on all regulatory actions under development or review at the time, including regulations and proceedings that agencies plan to undertake in the future or have recently completed.[2][3]

E.O. 12866 requires agencies to include the following information about each rule in their regulatory agendas:[7]

“ The description of each regulatory action shall contain, at a minimum, a regulation identifier number, a brief summary of the action, the legal authority for the action, any legal deadline for the action, and the name and telephone number of a knowledgeable agency official.[7][8] ”

E.O. 12866 also requires agencies to prepare an annual regulatory plan detailing "the most important significant regulatory actions that the agency reasonably expects to issue in proposed or final form in that fiscal year or thereafter."[7]

Regulatory Flexibility Act

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, federal agencies must publish regulatory flexibility agendas in the Federal Register twice per year. According to RegInfo.gov, the official website of the Unified Agenda, these reports identify agency regulations "that may have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities," such as small businesses. Agencies submit these regulatory flexibility agendas for inclusion in each Unified Agenda.[1][3]

Effects of regulations on state and local governments

Executive Order 12866 and the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act require federal agencies to assess the effects of their regulatory actions on state, local, and tribal governments. Executive Order 13132, "Federalism," directs agencies to seek input from state and local government officials when considering regulatory actions with what the order refers to as federalism implications, defined as actions "that have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between the National Government and the States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government."[1]

This information is included in the Unified Agenda for most agencies. Independent regulatory agencies are exempt from including information under the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and E.O. 13132 in the Unified Agenda, but they are required under E.O. 12866 to assess the effects of regulatory actions on state, local, and tribal governments.[1]

Noteworthy events

Trump administration reports $23 billion in deregulation savings in 2018 fiscal year (2018)

The Trump administration reported that $23 billion in savings were accrued from 176 deregulatory actions in the 2018 fiscal year. The administration has issued 65% fewer economically significant rules—defined as rules that impose costs exceeding $100 million per year—than the Obama administration and 51% fewer than the Bush administration.[9][4]

The report comes alongside the release of the new Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, released twice each year to outline the federal regulatory rulemaking plans for the next fiscal year. Neomi Rao, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said in the introduction to the agenda that, “in modern times, the expansion of the administrative state has placed undue burdens on the public, impeding economic growth, technological innovation, and consumer choice. … Our reform efforts emphasize the rule of law, respect for the Constitution’s separation of powers, and the limits of agency authority.”[4]

After his inauguration, President Trump issued Executive Order 13771: Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs, which required that agencies eliminate two old regulations for each new regulation issued and put forth procedures for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to determine annual regulatory cost allowances.

The agenda projects that regulatory costs will reduce by $18 billion in the coming 2019 fiscal year. The agenda also proposes reform of the greenhouse gas and Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which it projects will save between $120 and $340 billion.[4]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 RegInfo.gov, "About the Unified Agenda," accessed August 22, 2017
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Regulations.gov, "Frequently Asked Questions," accessed August 22, 2017
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 The Regulatory Group, "Regulatory Glossary," accessed August 22, 2017
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 RegInfo.gov, "Current Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions," accessed August 22, 2017 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "agenda" defined multiple times with different content
  5. ↑ U.S. General Services Administration, "Regulatory Information Service Center," accessed January 16, 2020
  6. ↑ Center for Effective Government, "How to Read the Unified Agenda," accessed August 22, 2017
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Federal Register, "Executive Order 12866," October 4, 1993
  8. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  9. ↑ Daily Signal, "Here’s How Much Red Tape Trump Has Cut," October 17, 2018
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