Obama Review of Regulatory Burden to Be Weighed in Cost-Benefit Analysis

Former Office of Management and Budget General Counsel Alan Charles Raul sees President Obama’s executive order subjecting new regulations to cost-benefit analysis and reviewing existing regulations as potentially aligning him (and OMB) more closely with those who want to see federal regulations strictly justified to preserve free enterprise and innovation. Moreover, Raul says the application of the president’s regulatory review principles to independent agencies is potentially very important if those agencies comply with the president’s wishes (or if Congress mandates that they do so). The 120-day retrospective review of existing significant regulations should empower businesses to communicate where they see opportunities to rationalize existing rules.