Regulatory reform expected to save $10 billion

The Obama administration has announced a plan to streamline hundreds of government regulations affecting businesses. In January, President Obama ordered a government-wide review of existing federal regulations. He directed agencies and departments to produce plans to eliminate red tape and to streamline current requirements. Federal agencies have released their final regulatory reform plans, that includes hundreds of initiatives that are “expected to reduce costs, simplify the system, and eliminate redundancy and inconsistency”
.
Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said “significant burden-reducing rules have been finalized or publicly proposed from the Department of Labor, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Department of Transportation”. She said the savings over the next five years from a fraction of the reforms are likely to exceed $10 billion.

This reform effort is not a one-time endeavor. Sunstein said federal agencies will continue to revisit existing rules looking to update, streamline or repealed the regulations. This review is supposed to be done in close consultation with the public. She said ideas from the public are welcome at any time.
An official with the National Retail Federation said the reform plan does not go far enough.

“This is a step in the right direction but at the same time the Administration is promising to reduce regulations, the government is continuing to crank out new rules that hamper the ability of the business community to create desperately needed new jobs,” said NRF Senior Vice President for Government Relations David French. “It’s time to stop the presses at government agencies and on Capitol Hill and focus on reform of what’s already on the books.”

French cited examples such as pending regulations proposed by the National Labor Relations Board that would make it easier for unions to win organizing elections, rules under health care reform that will force many employers to reduce their workforces in order to meet the increased payroll costs of government-mandated health coverage and OSHA recordkeeping requirements.