During the campaign, President Trump promised to remove two regulations for every new one enacted. On Monday, January 30, 2017, he made good on that promise by signing an Executive Order (EO)  requiring agencies to identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed for every one newly promulgated regulation. The EO also requires the total incremental costs of all new regulations finalized in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to be offset by eliminating costs associated with repealed regulations.

Additionally, the EO states that beginning in FY 2018, agencies may not issue regulations not included in the most recent Unified Regulatory Agenda. The EO also instructs the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director to identify the total amount of incremental costs allowed for each agency to issue new regulations and repeal existing ones. It further states that “[n]o regulations exceeding the agency’s total incremental cost allowance will be permitted in that fiscal year, unless required by law . . . .”

The EO specifically exempts from the policy regulations associated with “a military, national security, or foreign affairs function of the United States.” It also exempts agency organization, personnel, and management regulations, and others which the OMB Director exempts.

For more information on this Executive Order, please contact Peter Glaser, Andrea Wortzel, or Buck Dixon.