Menu
Institute for Policy Integrity logo

In the News

  • Did Bush Miss His Deadline For 11th-hour Meddling?

    In the past few months, we’ve seen President Bush propose a number of controversial midnight regulations. He’s suggested expanding mountaintop mining, allowing tons of rubble and refuse to be dumped into streams and valleys. He’s threatened to significantly weaken Endangered Species Act regulations. He has proposed rules that would allow increased pollution from old power plants. But none of these deregulations have been finalized yet.

  • Obama Team Tracks Bush’s ‘Midnight’ Rules Rush

    In September, the Institute for [Policy Integrity] at the New York University School of Law wrote the White House to complain that at least three new rules violated the Bolten decree against what the institute called “last-minute” policymaking.

  • Bush may introduce environmental regulations

    Environmentalists and public-policy watchdogs are expecting similar industry-friendly regulatory changes in the coming months. Such “midnight regulations” have become common practice in recent decades as presidents, both Republican and Democrat, seek to leave their mark on public policy.

  • Regulatory Reform Plans For Next White House May Bolster CO2 Curbs

    Among the latest proposals is an October “policy brief” by Michael Livermore—an environmentalist and head of the Institute for Policy Integrity—calling for a new executive order within the first 100 days of the next administration to reform the regulatory review process and ensure “balanced cost-benefit analysis and smart, effective regulation.”

  • Wave of midnight regulations expected

    Dudley’s letter came in response to concerns raised by Richard Revesz, dean of New York University’s law school, and Michael Livermore, director of the NYU Institute for Policy Integrity. The duo wrote to the Office of Management and Budget last month outlining three regulations proposed “in violation of Mr. Bolten’s directive.”

  • White House Signals It’s Flexible on Deadline for New Rules

    The Oct. 9th letter to NYU Law Dean Richard L. Revesz states that a May 9th memo from White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to federal agencies ‘was not intended to be a moratorium on proposed regulations’ and ‘contemplates some circumstances in which it would be appropriate for individual regulations to proceed without regard to deadlines if approved by’ her office. Dudley is administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.

  • Bush administration missed its own memo; ‘midnight regulation’ abounds after June 1 deadline

    In less than a week, this country will have a new President … but the old administration will still be hard at work, potentially pushing through last minute regulations for three more months. That leaves plenty of time for more bad news for the environment and public health.

  • Midnight Regulations

    10.28.08 Executive Director, Michael Livermore on NPR’s “The Diane Rehm Show” regarding Bush Administration’s “midnight regulations.”

    A look at the regulatory changes made by presidents in the final days of their administrations.

  • Bolten’s Memo on Midnight Regs? Ignore it.

    Richard Revesz, Dean of NYU’s School of Law, and Michael Livermore, Director of the Institute for Policy Integrity sent a letter to OMB Director Jim Nussle in early September, expressing concern that OMB was not asserting “appropriate controls over the regulatory process,” and giving three examples of proposed rules that appeared to violate the Bolten memo. One of the three mentioned is the infamous rule proposed by the Department of Labor on occupational health risk assessment.

  • Guest post: Michael Livermore on cost-benefit analysis

    Our next President will face triplet crises on the economy, environment, and energy. A fiscal crisis teetering on recession, uncontrolled greenhouse gases, and oil-rich dictators profiting from sky-high prices at the pump. With these three major storm fronts rolling in and threatening to collide, we’d better be prepared with a good plan. And I don’t think evacuation is an option.