[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 17 (Thursday, January 28, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7424-7425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-01868]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

January 20, 2021.

FROM: Ronald A. Klain, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff.
SUBJECT: Regulatory Freeze Pending Review.

    The President has asked me to communicate to each of you his plan 
for managing the Federal regulatory process at the outset of his 
Administration. In order to ensure that the President's appointees or 
designees have the opportunity to review any new or pending rules, at 
the direction of the President, I ask that you immediately take the 
following steps:
    1. Subject to any exceptions the Director of the Office of 
Management and Budget (the ``OMB Director'') allows for emergency 
situations or other urgent circumstances relating to health, safety, 
environmental, financial, or national security matters, or otherwise, 
propose or issue no rule in any manner--including by sending a rule to 
the Office of the Federal Register (the ``OFR'')--until a department or 
agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on 
January 20, 2021, reviews and approves the rule. The department or 
agency head may delegate this power of review and approval to any other 
person so appointed or designated by the President, consistent with 
applicable law.
    2. With respect to rules that have been sent to the OFR but not 
published in the Federal Register, immediately withdraw them from the 
OFR for review and approval as described in paragraph 1, subject to the 
exceptions described in paragraph 1. This withdrawal must be conducted 
consistent with OFR procedures.
    3. With respect to rules that have been published in the Federal 
Register, or rules that have been issued in any manner, but have not 
taken effect, consider postponing the rules' effective dates for 60 
days from the date of this memorandum, consistent with applicable law 
and subject to the exceptions described in paragraph 1, for the purpose 
of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy the rules may 
raise. For rules postponed in this manner, during the 60-day period, 
where appropriate and consistent with applicable law, consider opening 
a 30-day comment period to allow interested parties to provide comments 
about issues of fact, law, and policy raised by those rules, and 
consider pending petitions for reconsideration involving such rules. As 
appropriate and consistent with applicable law, and where necessary to 
continue to review these questions of fact, law, and policy, consider 
further delaying, or publishing for notice and comment proposed rules 
further delaying, such rules beyond the 60-day period. Following the 
60-day delay in effective date:
    a. For those rules that raise no substantial questions of fact, 
law, or policy, no further action needs to be taken; and
    b. for those rules that raise substantial questions of fact, law, 
or policy, agencies should notify the OMB Director and take further 
appropriate action in consultation with the OMB Director.
    4. Exclude from the actions requested in paragraphs 1 through 3 any 
rules subject to statutory or judicial deadlines and identify such 
exclusions to the OMB Director as soon as possible.
    5. Notify the OMB Director promptly of any rules that, in your 
view, should be excluded from the directives in paragraphs 1 through 3 
because those rules affect critical health, safety, environmental, 
financial, or national security matters, or for some other reason. The 
OMB Director will review any such notifications and determine whether 
such exclusion is appropriate under the circumstances.
    6. Comply in all circumstances with any applicable Executive Orders 
concerning regulatory management.
    As used in this memorandum, ``rule'' has the definition set forth 
in section 551(4), title 5, United States Code. It also includes any 
``regulatory action,'' as defined in section 3(e) of Executive Order 
12866 of September 30, 1993, as amended, and any ``guidance document'' 
as defined in section 3(g) of Executive Order 13422 of January 18, 
2007, when that order was in effect. Thus, the requirements of this 
memorandum apply not only to ``rules'' as defined in section 551(4) of 
title 5, but also to:
    a. Any substantive action by an agency (normally published in the 
Federal Register) that promulgates or is expected to lead to the 
promulgation of a final rule or regulation, including notices of 
inquiry, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and notices of 
proposed rulemaking; and
    b. any agency statement of general applicability and future effect 
that sets forth a policy on a statutory, regulatory, or technical issue 
or an interpretation of a statutory or regulatory issue.
    The OMB Director will implement this regulatory review, and any 
communications regarding any matters pertaining to this review should 
be addressed to the OMB Director. The OMB Director is also authorized 
to establish a process to review pending collections of information 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, as codified in chapter 35, 
title 44, United States Code, and to take actions that the OMB Director 
deems appropriate based on that review, consistent with applicable law.
    Should actions be identified that were undertaken before noon on 
January 20, 2021, to frustrate the purpose underlying this memorandum, 
I may modify or extend this memorandum, pursuant to the direction of 
the President, to request that agency heads

[[Page 7425]]

consider taking steps to address those actions.
    The OMB Director is authorized and directed to publish this 
memorandum in the Federal Register.

[FR Doc. 2021-01868 Filed 1-27-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3110-01-M