[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 17 (Monday, May 1, 1995)]
[Pages 695-696]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Memorandum on Regulatory Reform

April 21, 1995

Memorandum for the Secretary of State; the Secretary of the Treasury; 
the Secretary of Defense; the Attorney General; the Secretary of the 
Interior; the Secretary of Agriculture; the Secretary of Commerce; the 
Secretary of Labor; the Secretary of Health and Human Services; the 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development; the Secretary of 
Transportation; the Secretary of Energy; the Secretary of Education; the 
Secretary of Veterans Affairs; the Administrator, Environmental 
Protection Agency; the Administrator, Small Business Administration; the 
Secretary of the Army; the Secretary of the Navy; the Secretary of the 
Air Force; the Director, Federal Emergency Management Agency; the 
Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration; the 
Director, National Science Foundation; the Acting Archivist of the 
United States; the Administrator of General Services; the Chair, 
Railroad Retirement Board; the Chairperson, Architectural and 
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board; the Executive Director, 
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation

Subject: Regulatory Reform--Waiver of Penalties and Reduction of Reports

    On March 16, I announced that the Administration would implement new 
policies to give compliance officials more flexibility in dealing with 
small business and to cut back on paperwork. These Governmentwide 
policies, as well as the specific agency actions I announced, are part 
of this Administration's continuing commitment to sensible regulatory 
reform. With your help and cooperation, we hope to move the Government 
toward a more flexible, effective, and user friendly approach to 
regulation.
    A. Actions: This memorandum directs the designated department and 
agency heads to implement the policies set forth below.
    1. Authority to Waive Penalties. (a) To the extent permitted by law, 
each agency shall use its discretion to modify the penalties for

[[Page 696]]

small businesses in the following situations. Agencies shall exercise 
their enforcement discretion to waive the imposition of all or a portion 
of a penalty when the violation is corrected within a time period 
appropriate to the violation in question. For those violations that may 
take longer to correct than the period set by the agency, the agency 
shall use its enforcement discretion to waive up to 100 percent of the 
financial penalties if the amounts waived are used to bring the entity 
into compliance. The provisions in paragraph 1(a) of this memorandum 
shall apply only where there has been a good faith effort to comply with 
applicable regulations and the violation does not involve criminal 
wrongdoing or significant threat to health, safety, or the environment.
    (b) Each agency shall, by June 15, 1995, submit a plan to the 
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (``Director'') 
describing the actions it will take to implement the policies in 
paragraph 1(a) of this memorandum. The plan shall provide that the 
agency will implement the policies described in paragraph 1(a) of this 
memorandum on or before July 14, 1995. Plans should include information 
on how notification will be given to frontline workers and small 
businesses.
    2. Cutting Frequency of Reports. (a) Each agency shall reduce by 
one-half the frequency of the regularly scheduled reports that the 
public is required, by rule or by policy, to provide to the Government 
(from quarterly to semiannually, from semiannually to annually, etc.), 
unless the department or agency head determines that such action is not 
legally permissible; would not adequately protect health, safety, or the 
environment; would be inconsistent with achieving regulatory flexibility 
or reducing regulatory burdens; or would impede the effective 
administration of the agency's program. The duty to make such 
determinations shall be nondelegable.
    (b) Each agency shall, by June 15, 1995, submit a plan to the 
Director describing the actions it will take to implement the policies 
in paragraph 2(a), including a copy of any determination that certain 
reports are excluded.
    B. Application and Scope: 1. The Director may issue further guidance 
as necessary to carry out the purposes of this memorandum.
    2. This memorandum does not apply to matters related to law 
enforcement, national security, or foreign affairs, the importation or 
exportation of prohibited or restricted items, Government taxes, duties, 
fees, revenues, or receipts; nor does it apply to agencies (or 
components thereof) whose principal purpose is the collection, analysis, 
and dissemination of statistical information.
    3. This memorandum is not intended, and should not be construed, to 
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at 
law by a party against the United States, its agencies, its officers, or 
its employees.
    4. The Director of the Office of Management and Budget is authorized 
and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:25 p.m., April 24, 
1995]

Note: This memorandum was released by the Office of the Press Secretary 
on April 24, and it was published in the Federal Register on April 26.