Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations

OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET

Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations

AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the President.

ACTION: Request for Comment on Draft Report on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations.

SUMMARY: OMB requests public comment on its Draft Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations (1999). It will submit its final version of the report in February, as required by Section 638(a) of the 1999 Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act .

DATES: To ensure consideration of comments as OMB prepares its final report for submission to Congress in February 2000, please submit all comments to OMB so that they are received no later than January 21, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Please address all comments on the Draft Report to John Morrall, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, NEOB, Room 10235, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20503.

You may submit comments by regular mail, by facsimile to (202) 395-6974, or by electronic mail to jmorrall@omb.eop.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: You can review the Report on the Internet at: "/omb/inforeg/index.html". You may also request a copy from John Morrall, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, NEOB, Room 10235, 725 17th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20503. Telephone: (202) 395-7316. E-mail: jmorrall@omb.eop.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Draft Report has four chapters. Chapter I presents OMB's estimates of total annual costs and benefits of Federal regulation and paperwork in the aggregate, by agency, and by agency program. It presents an analysis of the impact of Federal regulation on State, local, and tribal government, small business, wages, and economic growth. It also presents estimates of the costs and benefits by agency of the major final regulations issued between April 1, 1995, and March 31, 1999, for which OMB could quantify and monetize impacts. Chapter II uses agency regulatory impact analyses to present quantitative estimates and qualitative descriptions of the benefits and costs of the 44 major rules issued by Federal agencies for which OMB concluded review during the 12-month period between April 1, 1998, and March 31, 1999. This "regulatory year" is the same period OMB used for the first two reports. Chapter III presents OMB's estimates of the costs and benefits of major Federal regulations for which we concluded review during the period April 1, 1995, to March 31, 1999. We included only the regulations for which OMB had quantitative information on both costs and benefits. For these regulations, we applied a uniform format and standardized measures of costs and benefits to produce estimates that could be more readily compared to each other. This information is used in our aggregate and by-agency estimates of the total annual costs and benefits of Federal regulation in Chapter I. Chapter IV presents ten recommendations for reform of specific Federal regulations.

John T. Spotila
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs