A Review of the Administration’s Regulatory Review

Mon, 2011-08-29 15:34 | Regulation | Sam Batkins
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Last week Professor Cass Sunstein took to the editorial pages to tout the administration’s regulatory reform push.  All cabinet-level agencies submitted their final plans to rescind or streamline onerous regulations.  However, to date no independent agency has submitted a final review plan.

The administration estimated a top-line savings from this reform effort of $10 billion “over the next five years” and $4 billion in “finalized” savings.  There has been only one significant deregulatory move published in the Federal Register, however.

Below is the Forum’s review of the administration’s plan for proposed reductions in paperwork burden hours and compliance costs. 

  • Agriculture:
    • SNAP reforms could save 20.7 million annual paperwork hours;
    • SNAP program participants could save 113,000 hours;
    • Simplify program access for meat and poultry labeling: reduction of 70,000 paperwork hours;
    • Proposed food safety rule could increase paperwork requirements by 73,730 hours;
    • Rural energy reform could reduce 8,832 paperwork hours;
    • Loan guarantee review could reduce 2,002 paperwork hours;
    • Total Proposed Reductions: 20.82 million paperwork burden hours.
  • Energy:
    • $500 million in proposed savings from use of alternative efficiency determination methods;
    • 270,000 in reduced paperwork hours through a streamlined financial assistance process;
    • Combined streamlined process could reduce up to 282,000 annual paperwork burden hours;
    • Total Proposed Reductions: 552,000 paperwork burden hours and $500 million.
  • Health and Human Services:
    • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) could save hospitals $13.6 million annually;
    • CMS proposal to remove “obsolete or burdensome requirements” could save $3 billion over five years;
    • HIPAA reforms could save health plans a total of 2 million paperwork burden hours and $120 million;
    • Elimination of actuarial reporting for hospitals could save $375,000;
    • Total Proposed Reductions: 2 million paperwork hours and $3.13 billion.
  • Homeland Security:
    • H1-B reform could save 13,750 hours;
    • Transitional Worker Classification reform could save $6.8 million through 2014;
    • Coast Guard reform could save the private-sector $35,000;
    • Student Exchange System reform could save $220,100 annually;
    • Fees to “Alien Flight Students” could be reduced by $18,107 over a five-year period;
    • FEMA grant process reviews could reduce paperwork burdens by 2,860,526;
    • Total Proposed Reductions: 2,874,276 paperwork hours and $7 million.
  • State: contractors could save 10,000 annual burden hours through new electronic submissions.
  • Treasury:
    • IRS initiative could reduce 55 million annual paperwork hours “as early as 2011;”
    • Distilled spirits industry could save $312,442 per year in reporting burdens and 23,218 annual paperwork burden hours;
    • Total Proposed Reductions: 55.02 million paperwork burden hours and $312,442.
  • Transportation: Initial positive train control installation could save between $223.7 million and $403 million.
  • Social Security Administration: A combined 79,666 reduction in annual paperwork hours through eliminating “unnecessary questions” and employing “electronic authorization.”
  • Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation: Waiver of “premium payment penalties” could save employers as much as $400,000 annually.
  • General Services Administration: Reduction of up to 126,000 annual paperwork burden hours.
  • Environmental Protection Agency:
    • “Spilled Milk Rule:” $145 to $148 million in cost savings;
    • Alternative Fuel Conversions of  Vehicles and Engines: $1.1 million;
    • Vehicle Vapor Recovery System: $87 million;
    • E-Manifest Reform: $76 to $124 million;
    • Total: $360.1 million in completed and proposed rescissions, according to EPA calculations.

 

Aggregate Proposed Paperwork Burden Hour Reductions: 81.48 million.

Aggregate Proposed Cost Reductions: $4.31 billion.  

These figures include reductions for businesses and the private-sector; where the administration provided a range of savings, the Forum used the average.  The Forum omitted agencies that failed to quantify potential cost savings.