United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office General Government Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-09-25 monographic deposited born digital 27 p. GA 1.13:T-GGD-96-185 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185 P0b002ee18038cb64 f:gg96185t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185 T-GGD-96-185 Regulatory agencies Federal regulations Reengineering (management) Executive orders Paperwork Economic analysis Cost effectiveness analysis Legislative procedures Interagency relations Evaluation methods EPA National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Testimony GGD

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the implementation of Executive Order 12866, which is intended to improve regulatory planning and review. GAO noted that: (1) the extent of federal agencies' cost-benefit analyses of proposed regulations depends on whether the regulatory action is economically significant or significant for noneconomic reasons; (2) agencies are required to provide the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) with their cost-benefit analyses of the regulatory action, but agencies often do not perform these analyses because they believe the analyses are not worth the time and effort; (3) OIRA provided cost-benefit analyses for 28 of 29 economically significant regulatory actions reviewed, but 2 of these analysis did not contain all required elements; (4) 14 significant noneconomic regulatory actions did not have cost-benefit analyses for various reasons; (5) although there was evidence of OIRA involvement in all regulations reviewed, the data was insufficient to determine whether OIRA-recommended changes were made; (6) at present, OIRA reviews are limited to only significant regulatory actions; (7) OIRA works informally with agencies during regulations' development and its influence may often be indirect and subtle; (8) for 21 of 32 rules, OIRA-suggested changes appear to have been substantive; and (9) periodic agency reviews of regulations have resulted in the elimination or revision of some regulations, but the overall regulatory burden appears not to have been significantly reduced because of regulatory obsolescence and duplication and the addition of new regulations. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185/html/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185.pdf GAO/T-GGD-96-185 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-GGD-96-185 Testimony GAO/T-GGD-96-185; Regulatory Reform: Implementation of the Regulatory Review Executive Order; Regulatory agencies Federal regulations Reengineering (management) Executive orders Paperwork Economic analysis Cost effectiveness analysis Legislative procedures Interagency relations Evaluation methods EPA National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Title 5 Section 601-612 Title 5 Section 601 Title 5 Section 610 5 U.S.C. 601-612 5 U.S.C. 601 5 U.S.C. 610 Title 41 Section 421 41 U.S.C. 421