Category: Uncategorized
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Federal Register weekly update; lowest weekly document total since January
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. During the week of May 27 to May 31, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,130 pages, bringing…
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Texas plumbing code and oversight board set to expire
The Texas Board of Plumbing Examiners and the state’s plumbing regulations will cease to exist after the Texas State Legislature on Sunday failed to approve associated sunset review legislation. The state’s plumbing code will expire on September 1, 2019, and the board will wind down operations by September 2020. The sunset bill—a type of…
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Iowa Supreme Court upholds changes to public-sector collective bargaining rights
In two separate rulings issued on May 17, 2019, the Iowa Supreme Court upheld a 2017 law that amended collective bargaining rights for the state’s public-sector workforce. The court ruled 4-3 in the state’s favor in both cases. What was at issue? In 2017, then-Gov. Terry Branstad (R) signed into law a series of…
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Cost-benefit analysis overhaul at EPA in response to Trump executive order
Offices of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are formulating rules to clarify how they weigh the costs and benefits of potential regulations. These rules follow a May 13, 2019, memo from EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler saying that cost-benefit analyses have varied across the agency in the past and that new rules will promote more transparent…
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Federal government follows through on threat to cancel $1 billion California high-speed rail grant; state files lawsuit in response
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) on May 16 canceled nearly $1 billion in high-speed rail grants issued to the California High Speed Rail Authority. The federal government canceled the grants in response to the state’s failure to comply with the terms of the original 2010 agreement and failure to make reasonable progress on the…
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U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear challenge to Chevron deference in UPS case
A fight between UPS and Amazon over how a federal agency determines shipping costs will not proceed to the U.S. Supreme Court. On May 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a case that challenged giving Chevron deference to the way the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) sets package delivery prices. UPS argued that…
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Colorado becomes the fifth state to enact net neutrality legislation
On May 17, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed SB19-078 into law, which prohibits internet service providers from throttling or blocking otherwise legal content, services, and apps, and from establishing internet fast lanes. Providers violating the law would be required to repay the state for any funding received for rural broadband initiatives. Colorado is…
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U.S. Senators Lankford (R-Okla.) and Sinema (D-Ariz.) propose giving the public early access to the rulemaking process
A proposed bill would require agencies to request written feedback from interested people regarding new major rules earlier in the regulatory process. Senators James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) introduced Senate Bill 1419, the Early Participation in Regulations Act, on May 13, 2019. The act requires agencies to issue advance notices that they will…
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U.S. Senators Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Lankford (R-Okla.) propose requiring agencies to perform retrospective reviews of regulations
A new bill aims to help administrative agencies meet regulatory goals by requiring them to assess the effectiveness of new major rules. Senate Bill 1420, The SMART Act of 2019, would require agencies to publish ideas about how to measure the anticipated benefits of new major rules, including how to collect the necessary data to…
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Federal Register weekly update; 2019 page total trails 2018 total by less than 1,000 pages
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. During the week of May 13 to May 17, the number of pages in the Federal Register increased by 1,928 pages, bringing…