The Obama administration has neglected to release its regulatory agenda for the second year in a row, leaving businesses apprehensive and unprepared for new federal regulations.
The Hill reports:
The Obama administration’s failure to release its legally required regulatory agenda has business groups worried that they could be blindsided by costly new federal rules.
Federal regulators are required to release a Unified Agenda in the spring and fall — typically occurring in April and October — that details plans and anticipated deadlines for regulations.
But Obama officials have missed the spring deadline for the second year in a row, stoking anxiety for businesses that want to know what mandates and rules are coming down the pike.
The Unified Agenda "provides uniform reporting of data on regulatory and deregulatory activities under development throughout the Federal Government," and covers "60 departments, agencies, and commissions." Federal agencies have been required to publish this information since 1978.
"The Regulatory Information Service Center (RISC)—an office within the General Services Administration—and the OMB are charged with compiling the regulatory playbook every six months," according to the Hill.
Small businesses have been particularly wary of the missing regulations because unlike larger corporations with more "manpower," they "rely on the documents to anticipate what new rules are on the horizon." Consequently, "the advanced notice that the agenda provides is also crucial for stakeholders because most of the deliberations over regulations and revisions happen before official proposal documents are even released."
Without a unified agenda, businesses do not know what regulations the administration plans to implement. Each agency may implement different rules that effect specific industries.
The Hill quotes Rosario Palmieri, vice president of infrastructure, legal, and regulatory policy at the National Association of Manufacturers, as being worried about this possibility:
"Each agency is kind of off on its own, trying to accomplish its specific mission."
It’s often not one regulation that can burden an industry, Palmieri said, but several can combine to create a flurry of compliance hurdles if agencies don’t coordinate.
"Two agencies might be doing something separately that could have an impact on business that they don’t even realize," he said.