Recent Projects

The Obama Administration is poised to improve worker safety by establishing a nationwide Injury and Illness Prevention Program. But unless it is well designed, the program will leave too many vulnerable to unsafe work conditions.

Policy Integrity submitted a letter to OIRA on its long delay in reviewing two rules from the Department of Labor. The rules, Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica and Occupational Injury and Illness Recording and Reporting Requirements, have been under review for 764 and 483 days, respectively. OIRA review of rules from the Department of Labor since 1994, the first full year of review under the 90-day framework established by Executive Order 12866, has lasted an average of only 60 days.

Michael Livermore, director of Policy Integrity, presents testimony today on the Affordable Care Act’s Summary of Benefits and Coverage (SBC) rule to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The testimony will be featured in a hearing entitled, “The Power of Transparency: Giving Consumers the Information They Need to Make Smart Choices in the Health Insurance Market.”

Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on its proposal to increase the guarantee fees that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae charge for single‐family mortgages in the states with the longest average time between default and a final foreclosure sale. This would mean that the costs charged to homeowners for mortgages will be higher in those states with the strongest judicial and regulatory protections against foreclosure.

In compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection has proposed mortgage regulations to address many of the concerns from the subprime mortgage crisis. Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Bureau on two mortgage servicing rules: (1) the RESPA Rule, which lays out requirements for how servicers must interact with the homeowners whose mortgages they service and (2) the TILA rule, which describes certain disclosures that mortgage servicers must send to their customers at particular points.

Policy Integrity sent our report, Balanced Justice, to United States Sentencing Commission in response to its call for public comments on possible priority issues for forthcoming amendments to the Sentencing Guidelines. The guidelines are used to set a uniform sentencing policy for individuals and organizations convicted of felonies and serious misdemeanors.

Today, we sent a letter to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget suggesting ways that that federal agencies can use data to work more closely and maximize their efforts on behalf of the American public.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) released a final rule to prevent, detect and respond to sexual abuse in prison facilities, in accordance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA). The rule marks the government’s first ever effort to set standards to protect inmates in facilities at the federal, state and local levels.

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.

The Dept. of Housing and Urban Development has issued two proposals that would significantly alter the way the government handles homelessness and institute major improvements to the agency’s work; Policy Integrity recently submitted a letter on both.