Roncevert Almond, Partner and Vice President at The Wicks Group (TWG), along with Marina O’Brien and Andy Orr, Associates at TWG, published “Regulatory Reform in the Trump Era—The First 100 Days” in the Volume 35, 2017 edition of the Yale Journal on Regulation Bulletin. The article examines the impact of the Trump Administration’s Executive Order 13771—informally known as the “two-for-one rule”—on the promulgation of regulations, specifically during the President’s first 100 days in office.
Executive Order 13771 requires that for every new regulation issued by the federal government, at least two previously enacted regulation be identified for elimination. The Order, which was signed by President Trump on January 30, 2017, only applies to “significant regulatory action,” defined as having an annual effect on the United States economy of more than $100 million. Using information obtained from the Federal Register, the article analyzed the impact of the “two-for- one” rule on federal rulemaking, including the frequency with which the offset requirement applied to regulatory action.
The article found that within the first 100 days of the Trump administration, “only nineteen rules and sixteen proposed rules have referenced Executive Order 13771 as part of the regulatory impact analysis.” Additionally, it was found that no federal agency has actually applied the offset required by the 2-for-1 rule during that time period. Almond, O’Brien, and Orr argued that federal agencies were reacting cautiously to the implementation of Executive Order 13771 and that many had yet to determine a consistent approach for the application of the Order.
While the authors determined that the “2-for 1 rule” has yet to be widely implemented, they found the Trump Administration’s agenda of deregulation to be broadly successful in other areas. As evidence, they pointed to the “regulatory freeze” at the start of Trump’s presidency and calculations that show that President Trump has engaged in 20% less rulemaking than his predecessor President Barack Obama.
The article concluded that “the new administration has taken a number of concrete steps towards achieving fundamental regulatory reform,” the effects of which remain to be seen.
TWG has broad experience serving as regulatory counsel to dozens of client involved in the transportation of goods both within the United States and abroad and regularly assists private and public entities obtain permits, regulatory deviations, and special authorizations under federal law. For more information about TWG’s regulatory services, please contact Roncevert Almond at ralmond@wicks-group.com or 202-457-7790.