1 Mar 2011

The REINS Act:
Would it work as intended?

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Policy

House and Senate Republicans have proposed legislation (HR 10, S 299) intending to substantially change federal regulatory practice. The proposed Regulations From the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2011 (The "REINS Act").

What is the bill supposed to do? What is it likely to do?

21 Jan 2011

Regulatory Review in the Obama Administration:
Clinton and Obama directives compared

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Policy

On January 18, President Obama issued an executive order that modifies longstanding principles and procedures for centralized regulatory oversight conducted by by the Office of Management and Budget.

The three tables below provide a side-by-side comparison of the new text with the text of Executive Order 12,866, issued by President Clinton in 1993. To guide readers in making comparisons, text that is underlined is the same in both documents.

Interpreting such texts requires close attention to detail. For this reason, we have color-coded both texts as follows:

GREEN HIGHLIGHT: Directive language (e.g., "shall", "must") with tightly defined verbs (e.g., "identify", "assess", "design", "maximize", "promulgate") often applied to concrete objects (e.g., "net benefits", "duplicative", "burdensome", "least burdensome", "most cost-effective") sometimes comprehensively (e.g., "only").

Objective performance evaluation generally is possible.

YELLOW HIGHLIGHT: Hortatory language (e.g., "should", "may") with loosely defined verbs (e.g., "consider", "promote", "endeavor to provide", "harmonize"), or used to modify directive language ambiguously (e.g., "where feasible and appropriate", "to the extent feasible").

Objective performance evaluation typically is impossible.

Where GREEN text is preceded or followed by YELLOW text, the result is always weaker. 

14 Jan 2010

Paperwork Reduction Act
How to improve implementation of the law

by Richard Belzer

in Paperwork Burdens

On October 28, 2009, the Office of Management and Budget solicited comments on its implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act. The purpose of the PRA is to minimize burdens on the public resulting from the federal government's information requests.

Neutral Source managing editor Richard Belzer submitted comments on his own behalf. These comments eventually will be uploaded by OMB to Regulations.Gov, the Federal government's web portal for all regulatory matters. (Clicking on the link above will reveal a fundamental weakness of the web portal: Unless the agency chooses to include information identifying the name and organizational affiliation of the submitter, there is no way to find any specific comment without opening them all.)

In response to numerous requests, a copy of these comment is posted to the Library.

4 Jul 2009

Causes of Foreclosure:
Easy money

by Richard Belzer

in Regulatory Economics, Regulatory Policy

The collapse of the housing bubble, with 20% to 50% reductions in home values across wide swaths of the country, has led to an extraordinary high rate of foreclosures. The federal government has responded with various programs to "help people stay in their homes."  These programs have one or two typical features: (1) lower interest rates, (2) forgiveness of some portion of the loan principal, (3) forbearance of nonpayment for some period of time, or some combination thereof.

These remedies have in common a similar diagnosis: foreclosures are rising because some aspect of the mortgage changed such that borrowers suddenly found themselves unable to afford the payments. Typically, what is presumed to have changed is that a low "teaser" rate ended, and the house was no longer affordable when the interest rate reset to market levels.

New research raises doubt about that diagnosis.