ERMUSR MISC. ISSUES 01-13-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 Government Regulation War on terror and financial scandals add to regulation n the future, federal and state governments are vironmental Protection Agency(EPA)and the depart- going to have even greater say on issues such as ments of Transportation, Health and Human Ser- environmental controls. land use, product liabili- vices, Energy. Agriculture and Labor. ty, food safety, workplace rules and much more. And the war on terrorism plus efforts to prevent New Moves to Slow Regulation more financial scandals are adding to the regulatory The Bush administration has several initiatives it burdens facing businesses. hopes will stem the tide of new regulations. Reform Efforts Faii Siiui i PEER REVIEW is the latest tactic being used to ease the Congress had good intent:ins ri:hen it passed regula- flood of regula--ins. The president has ordered that, tory reform legislation in 1q96. But a look at the starting in 2004. federal regulatory agencies must record shows that the results have not met the goal of meet a greater burden of proof that proposed rules easing the weight of regu- are cost effective. New lations on the economy. regulations will have to It is impossible to pass muster with scientif- measure the overall costs is peer groups. Exceptions and benefits of federal will be allowed when the White es to society. But DANGER there is an imminent t the White House Office threat to public health of Management and Bud- and safety. get(OMB) reports that the 107 major regulations REVISITING OLD RULES is issued in the past 10 years part of the administra- cost$36 billion-$42 billion tion's effort to ease regula- a year to implement and tory burdens. Under the had benefits valued at direction of the OMB, $146 billion to $230 bil- t- _ e ±fag 3 federal agencies have re- 1 lion. The Cato Institute, a ., r ` viewed current rules and I libertarian think tank in now have a list of more Washington, D.C.,esti- than 250 regulations that mates that all federal might be changed or elim- rules add$860 billion a Mated in 2004. year in costs to the econo- '' s ' r my-8% of gross domes- Pending Rules tic product. The administration may One rough measure succeed in slowing the of federal regulatory activity is the number of pages rulemaking process,but it won't stop agencies from devoted to promulgating new rules in the Federal coming up with new rules. Here are some of the regu . Register,the government's rulemaking bible. The latory issues likely to reach fruition in 2004. number of Federal Register pages hit an all-time high of 75,606 in 2002. Compare that with about 50,000 in FINANCIAL REFORMS are sure to keep coming from 1990, 20,000 in 1970 and 10,000 in 1950. agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Com- About 8 BILLION hours are spent each year mission(SEC) and the Financial Accounting Stan- complying with government requests for data, accord- dards Board(FASB)in the wake of corporate and Be- ing to the OMB. Approximately two-thirds of that curities scandals. _ time is spent by businesses, most of it to comply with The SEC is stepping up its scrutiny of financial the federal tax code and regulations issued by the En- reporting and accounting procedures with closer in- 10 I The Kiplinger Letter • KiplingerForecasts.com