Through an Executive Order, Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation, President Trump began his promised efforts to reduce the burden of regulation on the public. While some may recall Executive Order 13777’s 2 for 1 mandate during his first term, President Trump has thrown his cap over the wall by calling for ten deregulatory actions for every new regulation issued.
To meet this goal, the newly reduced federal regulatory agencies are set to explode with activity. Stakeholders should know that deregulation is no faster or more efficient of a process than regulation is. Agencies still must seek notice and comment from the public and interest groups are free to challenge deregulatory efforts in the same way that regulations are so often challenged.
When agencies decide to issue a regulation, which is frequently required by law, they will be required to find ten other regulations to take off the books in return. These regulations may not be related to the newly proposed regulation, but agencies will be forced to barter them in order to keep up with their statutory missions.
Already we have seen major deregulatory actions. First, we saw the Federal Highway Administration’s planned withdraw of its greenhouse gas emissions performance measurement requirements. And just yesterday, we saw CEQ initiate the process of withdrawing all their NEPA regulations.
AGC will monitor the continued flurry of activity and to ensure that any unintended impacts on the construction industry are identified and brought to the agency’s attention. In addition, we will be ready and willing to support the agencies when efforts to deregulate have benefits for our members.
With a flurry of activity comes a flurry of reactivity. Interest groups will be extremely aggressive in challenging some of these deregulatory efforts. As always, AGC will monitor courtrooms across the country to ensure the government receives our full support where we believe our members stand to benefit. AGC’s advocacy efforts on litigation and regulations are made possible by your contributions to the Construction Advocacy Fund. If you have any questions or have identified any regulatory actions you feel we need to be more involved with, please let us know.
For additional information, please contact Spencer Phillips.