The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) last week issued a 2019 update on the Trump administration’s 2-to-1 regulatory policy, which requires agencies to eliminate two old regulations for each new regulation issued. Though the requirement only applies to what are called significant regulations—those with an economic impact of $100 million or more—the update includes information about the administration’s overall deregulatory efforts.

President Trump instituted the 2-to-1 regulatory policy in January 2017 via Executive Order 13771: Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs. At the end of the 2017 fiscal year, OIRA reported that agencies issued 67 applicable deregulatory actions and three regulatory actions for a ratio of 22-to-1. Following the 2018 fiscal year, OIRA reported that agencies issued 57 applicable deregulatory actions and 14 regulatory actions for a ratio of 4-to-1.

How did agencies perform in the 2019 fiscal year? OIRA’s update features the following outcomes:

• Agencies accrued $13.5 billion in savings from 150 deregulatory actions.

• Sixty-one deregulatory actions were deemed significant.

• Agencies issued 35 significant regulatory actions.

• Comparing significant deregulatory to significant regulatory actions yields a ratio of 1.7- to-1, just shy of the administration’s 2- to-1 goal.

Looking ahead to the 2020 fiscal year, OIRA anticipates that agencies will accrue $51 billion in regulatory cost savings. OIRA reported that agencies have eliminated $50.9 billion in regulatory costs since 2017.

Click here to learn more.

Additional reading: