Recent Projects

The U.S. Department of Transportation announced new restrictions to the amount of time truckers can spend behind the wheel. DOT maintained an 11-hour limit on truck drivers’ hours, scaling back a proposal to give them more rest. The rule does introduce some new limits, including a reduction a driver’s maximum work week by 12 hours to 70 hours.

The Senate rejected a bid to overturn the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules yesterday, ensuring that consumers will continue to garner huge economic benefits from an open Internet.

Policy Integrity submitted a letter today to the Department of Health and Human Services on its upcoming Transparency Reporting rule, mandated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010. The rule would develop uniform disclosure standards for group health plans and health insurance issuers, requiring them to provide consumers with new, more detailed information on likely co-pays for particular plans or treatments; providers would also have to provide consumers with a document that summarizes benefits and explains coverage clearly in four pages or less.

Policy Integrity submitted a letter today to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on its proposal to adopt the National Industry Standards for Homeownership Education Counseling as mandatory, industry-wide requirements. The new regulations would primarily function as a government-certified labeling program, comparable in some respects to the USDA’s National Organic Program or EPA’s Energy Star program. The standards represent a significant effort on part of the homeownership counseling industry to ensure quality and consistency nationwide and, by using them as a template, HUD has a head start on crafting regulations that could provide significant benefits to individuals and families looking to navigate the complex process of buying and financing a home.

Today, Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Department of Justice (“DOJ”)on its notice of proposed national standards to detect, prevent, and reduce the incidence of sexual abuse in the nation’s prisons. The proposal implements the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (“PREA”), which created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to study of the impacts of sexual assault in the United States; standards ultimately suggested by the Commission inform much of the DOJ’s proposed rule.

Today, Policy Integrity submitted comments to the Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Policy Integrity submitted comments on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association’s (“FMCSA”) proposed revisions to its hours of service regulation (“HOS regulation”) for commercial truck drivers. The regulation dates back to the Motor Carrier Act of 1935, which has seen little change to its basic structure despite numerous subsequent revisions. Our comments find FMCSA’s proposed modifications lacking for several reasons.

Today, the Obama administration rescinded the 2008 Bush-era physician conscience rule, which extended protections to health care providers who refused to provide certain services due to moral or religious objections.