President Donald Trump signed an executive order last week that instructs each federal agency to create a task force to evaluate existing regulations and identify ones that could or should be repealed, replaced or revised. The order directs the head of each agency to appoint a regulatory reform officer who will be tasked with helping to “alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people.”

Each task force will identify regulations that:

• Eliminate jobs or inhibit job creation;
• Are outdated, unnecessary or ineffective;
• Impose costs that exceed benefits;
• Create inconsistency or interfere with regulatory reform efforts;
• Are based on data, information or methods that are neither publicly available nor reproducible; or
• Originated from previous executive orders that have been rescinded or substantially modified.

This is the fourth announcement from the Trump Administration that deals with federal regulations.

• The “Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” memorandum, issued Jan. 20, directed officials in federal agencies to hold all new or pending regulations until members of the new administration could review them.
• The “Streamlining Permitting and Reducing Regulatory Burdens for Domestic Manufacturing,” issued Jan. 24, aims to streamline the multiple permitting requirements, such as environmental permits that federal agencies require, and other regulatory burdens.
• The “Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulations and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” issued Jan. 30, said agencies would need to eliminate two regulations each time they introduced a new regulation

The latest executive order is intended to provide a framework for helping agencies to identify which regulations could be eliminated in advance of issuing any new regulations.

Members may login to access a memorandum prepared by IDFA's outside legal counsel, Hogan Lovells US LLP. 

Members with questions may contact Emily Lyons, IDFA director of regulatory affairs and counsel, at elyons@idfa.org.