Recent Projects

With litigation pending by ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the State of Connecticut and six other states against the physician conscience rule, the new Obama Administration proposed a rescission of the rule. Policy Integrity joined the coalition to submit comments in support of that action.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Obama took steps to halt the adoption or implementation of regulations that went into the pipeline during the final days of the Bush Administration.

In September 2008, EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics released a new draft of its Guidelines for Preparing Economic Analyses. In the past, that document has not only been a key resource for EPA’s consideration of regulatory costs and benefits, but it has also influenced the analytical processes used by state agencies and other federal agencies.

As part of a raft of midnight regulations, the U.S. Department of the Interior and the Environmental Protection Agency worked together to finalize regulations that ease restrictions on mountaintop coal mining—in particular how and when mining operations can deposit waste, rocks, and soil in or near streams.

In August 2008, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a regulation that would expand protections for medical professionals who refuse to provide health care services that they object to on moral grounds. Policy Integrity worked with a coalition of women’s health organizations to oppose the rule based on its finding that HHS ignored the negative consequences this policy could have on access to care, especially for women seeking reproductive health services.

In August 2008, the Department of Labor (DOL) proposed a sweeping change to the way agencies treat toxic chemical risks in the workplace. The rule, which would change the assumptions about how long workers are exposed to hazardous chemicals, is extremely controversial and prompted an outcry from the public and Congress.