Project Updates

  • Friday
    February 24th,
    2012

    Suggestions to the Small Business Administration on Regulatory

    This week, President Obama laid out his blueprint for lowering corporate taxes. The response from Republicans: small businesses will suffer.

    Taxes aren’t the only place where small businesses currently get a break, and in the regulatory context, sometimes the special treatment goes too far. Today we submitted suggestions to the Small Business Administration on how to avoid getting overzealous.

    SBA is charged with implementing requirements for agencies to look at alternatives to rules that would adversely affect small businesses. Under its watch, small businesses are shielded from the impacts of regulation through exemptions, lower standards, or longer compliance timelines.

    But it is not always a good idea to allow small businesses off the regulatory hook. If done incorrectly or haphazardly, the public can end up footing an oversized bill and larger companies can end up paying inefficiently high costs.

    If the goal is to maximize benefits to Americans, decisionmakers need to be careful not to go over the top in protecting small businesses. While enhancing small businesses competitiveness may be a good idea, it should not override the environment, public health, or basic economic principles.

    Ultimately, implementation of these small business requirements like the Regulatory Flexibility Act, needs refinement to ensure the American public isn’t hurt in the attempt to boost small businesses.

    Issue(s): Cost-Benefit Analysis   Type: Letters

  • Tuesday
    February 21st,
    2012

    Comments to EPA on reconsideration of Boiler MACT

    Boiler MACT regulations will take harmful soot out of the air as well as mercury and other heavy metals. It will have a significant positive effect on respiratory and cardiovascular health. But EPA is currently reconsidering some of the rule it deems shaky.

    We think the agency should use this opportunity to improve the rule’s economic efficiency and maximize the benefits to the American public. There is definitely room to tighten some of the elements to improve results.

    The term “cost-effective energy conservation measure” could certainly use further clarification and more targeted application. Its definition is flimsy which can lead to confusion and under-compliance. This could take some of the bite out of a regulation that is slated to save lives and millions of dollars each year.

    Today, Policy Integrity submitted comments to EPA making these recommendations.

    Issue(s): Energy and Environment   Type: Public Comments

  • Wednesday
    February 15th,
    2012

    Comments to the Virginia Board of Health on Access to Health Care

    Recently, women’s health has been a topic of national news. It’s also made headlines in Virginia where the state government has taken steps that could effectively shutter many women’s health clinics.

    But they may have veered off track legally.

    Twenty-two clinics that perform five or more first-trimester abortions per month have been reclassified as hospitals, subjecting them to a host of new rules and requirements and putting them under threat of closure. These clinics provide a range of health care services including cancer screenings, vaccinations, blood work and regular physical check-ups from people who might not otherwise be able to afford care.

    This reclassification would require clinics to overhaul their buildings’ layouts to increase operating room and hallway sizes. Construction would force them to close until they could secure new facilities.

    But there is a legal problem: before implementing this regulation, the state government failed to take into account the costs and benefits and offered no possible alternatives—both are required by state law before the rule becomes permanent.

    We submitted comments today to the Virginia Board of Health urging them to conduct a robust cost-benefit analysis before the rule becomes permanent next year. If they fail to do so, they will be subject to legal challenges.

    Issue(s): Health and Human Services   Type: Public Comments

  • Monday
    February 13th,
    2012

    Comments to EPA and DOT on CAFE Standards for Model Years 2017-2025

    Cars that hit the streets in 2017 through 2025 will run on far less fuel than they do now. Last summer, the Obama Administration announced a deal with automakers aiming to up the average to 56 miles per gallon and EPA-DOT proposed a new rule that would hold them to that standard.

    The midnight deadline for public comments on this proposed regulation marks one more mile on the long road toward cleaner cars. Before President Obama announced upgrades to the nation’s CAFE standards in 2010, the American fleet had stalled out at an average of 27.5 MPG since 1990.

    These rules have huge benefits to health, the environment, and consumer’s wallets that vastly outweigh the costs of compliance.

    Unfortunately, the rule distorts incentives for manufactures to achieve the lowest cost fuel economy improvements and undervalues the climate change benefits brought about by the rule. We submitted suggestions to EPA-DOT recommending they accurately estimate climate benefits by accounting for catastrophic risks, and revise the “footprint” based standards that incentives inefficiently large vehicles. Corrected, the rules will prove to be even more worthwhile than they currently seem.

    Issue(s): Energy and Environment   Type: Public Comments

  • Wednesday
    February 8th,
    2012

    EPA Delays NSPS

    The EPA has again delayed its proposal of New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) targeting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The agency passed a September settlement agreement deadline and has not set a date for the actual release.

    The standards are undergoing political attacks, with House Republicans recently sending a letter to the OMB asking for the rule to be killed because of negative impacts on jobs and the economy.

    Policy Integrity submitted comments to OIRA in December with recommendations on the design of the standards. These included not grandfathering in old plants and incorporating flexibility mechanisms to lower compliance costs for businesses.

    Issue(s): Energy and Environment