Deregulation: Process and Procedures That Govern Agency Decisionmaking in An Era of Rollbacks

Abstract

After an election, especially one where the governing party has switched, change might be inevitable. And agency regulations are a prime area where new presidents may seek to make changes. But even in a time of political change, the legal system imposes a degree of predictability and regularity on that process. True to form, since his inauguration in January 2017, President Donald Trump and his agency heads have targeted President Barack Obama’s environmental legacy, by seeking to repeal many energy and environmental regulations. But those attempts are governed by a set of standard rules that provide important and meaningful limits to President Trump’s freedom to roll back regulations that are currently on the books and several have hit some snags. This article provides an overview of the procedural and statutory limits that apply to agencies seeking to change course, and either cancel or suspend regulations that they previously issued. It also discusses several recent examples of agency decision-making to show how these rules work in practice in this era of rollbacks.

Keywords: Administrative Procedure Act, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Deregulation, Trump

JEL Classification: K2, K32, K40, K48, Q50, Q51, Q54, Q58