Regulation

Over the course of just four days, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released three new regulations that account for 797 pages, $9.1 billion in new costs, and 10.6 million additional paperwork burden hours.

Breakdown

Medicaid, CHIP, and Exchanges: Eligibility and Enrollment

• Cost: $2.6 billion
• Paperwork: 518,432 burden hours
• Quantified Benefits: $0

Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption

The Chinese government’s failure to enforce intellectual property rights (IPR) has caused American companies to lose hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenues and hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs.  A May 2011 study, China: Effects of Intellectual Property Infringement and Indigenous Innovation Policies on the U.S. Economy undertaken by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), reports that U.S. businesses lost $48 billion in sales, royalties and licensing fees due to IPR infringement in 2009.  The ITC survey, sent to over 5,000 U.S.

The week before President Obama’s second inauguration provided plenty of regulatory activity, ending the so-called “midnight” period (after Election Day and before Inauguration Day).  The total tally for proposed and final rules this week: more than $7 billion with 10.1 million associated paperwork burden hours.       

Regulatory Toplines

While "innovation" is a critical component of any nation's continuing economic success, it can also be used as a "cover" for potentially trade restrictive domestic policies against foreign-invested enterprises ("FEIs"). In a June 16, 2012 op-ed ("Protectionism is Back") in The Wall Street Journal, Thomas J. Donahue, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Dean C.

As the 113th Congress begins its first session, there is plenty of activity in the regulatory world. Today, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration officially published a somewhat peculiar proposed rule mandating the installation of sound making devices in hybrid and electric vehicles.

Despite a pronounced regulatory slowdown before Election Day, regulators still managed to add $236.7 billion in regulations. 

Today the National Highway Transportation Administration (NHTSA) formally proposed a rule to require artificial sounds for hybrid and electric vehicles.  The somewhat strange regulation is an outgrowth of the “Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act,” which mandates “performance requirements for an alert sound that allows blind and other pedestrians to reasonably detect a nearby electric or hybrid vehicle.”

The opening weeks of 2013 have been slow for the Federal Register but the unofficial release of several economically significant regulations will drive costs during the month.  Since the New Year, agencies released regulations requiring sounds for hybrid cars, produce safety requirements, and the White House recently concluded review of a Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.  The administration has concluded review of ten significant regulations in the last thirty days.     

On the Friday afternoon before Christmas, the administration released its delayed 2012 “Unified Agenda” of federal regulations.  Rather than publish a spring and fall agenda, the custom every year since 1996, the White House opted for a late afternoon drop during the holidays.

The nation’s federal budget deficit gets a lot of attention from policy wonks and political commentators, and for good reason. Most people agree that the rapid rise in deficit spending in the last several years represents a genuine threat to our long-term economic well-being. But government affects the economy not only by taxing, borrowing, and spending, but also by telling businesses how they need to spend their money, via the issuance of regulations. This can have just as much of an effect on the economy as the government’s fiscal policies.