Public Citizen Applauds the Biden Administration’s Modernizing Regulatory Review Executive Action
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden Administration on Thursday issued an Executive Order (EO) to improve and strengthen the rulemaking process, including draft revisions to Circular-A4 on regulatory analysis. The new EO streamlines the regulatory review process at the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), a small agency charged with reviewing the most important regulations, to ensure OIRA is not delaying or weakening new regulatory protections as it has done in the past.
The EO also updates the flawed and outdated methodology that agencies use when counting the benefits and costs of its new regulations, which will ensure that the benefits of protecting the public are fully accounted for rather than being undervalued compared to regulatory costs for corporations. Finally, the EO directs agencies to do more to seek out the views of ordinary Americans that benefit most from new regulations, particularly those in underserved communities, when developing new regulatory protections.
In response, Lisa Gilbert, executive vice president of Public Citizen, released the following statement:
“The toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio and the failure of Silicon Valley Bank make it clear that now more than ever strong and effective regulations must be created to protect the public, and we are thrilled to see the administration put forth such powerful reforms to improve the process.
“While there’s much more to do, the critical reforms contained in this executive action will begin the task of making the regulatory process more inclusive and democratic. They will also begin to right the ship and balance undue influence and capture of the process by corporate special interests that oppose sensible protections that help the public.
“The Biden administration’s reforms are a much-needed and long overdue step in the right direction. Public Citizen looks forward to working with the Biden administration to further strengthen these reforms to make the regulatory process the most transparent, inclusive, accountable, and effective at protecting the public.”
Please join the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards on Tuesday, April 11 for a conversation about the future of regulation with Richard Revesz, administrator of the U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The conversation will focus on the new executive order reforming and modernizing the regulatory review process. Learn more and register here.