On February 24, 2017, President Donald Trump issued a Presidential Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda (“Executive Order”) which requires the heads of agencies to designate an agency official as the “Regulatory Reform Officer” within 60 days, and establish “Regulatory Reform Task Forces.” The objective of each Regulatory Reform Task Force will be to “evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement, or modification, consistent with applicable law.”
The Executive Order specifies that the Regulatory Reform Task Force within each agency will be composed of: (i) the agency Regulatory Reform Officer; (ii) the agency Regulatory Policy Officer designated under section 6(a)(2) of Executive Order 12866; (iii) a representative from the agency’s central policy office or equivalent central office; and (iv) for agencies listed in section 901(b)(1) of title 31, United States Code, at least three additional senior agency officials as determined by the agency head.
The Executive Order requires that each Regulatory Reform Task Force attempt to identify regulations that: (i) eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation; (ii) are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective; (iii) impose costs that exceed benefits; (iv) create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies; (v) are inconsistent with the requirements of section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (44 U.S.C. § 3516 note), or the guidance issued pursuant to that provision, in particular those regulations that rely in whole or in part on data, information, or methods that are not publicly available or that are insufficiently transparent to meet the standard for reproducibility; or (vi) derive from or implement Executive Orders or other Presidential directives that have been subsequently rescinded or substantially modified. The Executive Order also states that, in performing its evaluation, each Regulatory Reform Task Force must seek input and other assistance from entities “significantly affected by Federal regulations, including State, local, and tribal governments, small businesses, consumers, non-governmental organizations, and trade associations.”
Lastly, the Executive Order states that within 90 days, and on a schedule determined by the agency head thereafter, each Regulatory Reform Task Force must provide a report to the agency head detailing the agency’s progress toward the goals of: (i) improving implementation of regulatory reform initiatives and policies; and (ii) identifying regulations for repeal, replacement, or modification.
A copy of the Executive Order may be found here.