07 Jan Regulatory Freeze
Posted at 14:36h
in Monthly Outlooks
| Following the January 20th inauguration, we expect the Biden-Harris Administration to immediately issue a memo to the heads and acting heads of all Cabinet departments halting actions on all outstanding regulations and regulatory guidance not yet published in the Federal Register, or a “regulatory freeze.” This is standard procedure for incoming administrations (Trump, Obama, Bush and Clinton issued similar orders) but will allow the incoming Biden Administration to review and likely block implementation of a slew of outstanding Trump Administration regulations. Jen Psaki, who will be Biden’s press secretary, recently confirmed Biden’s plan for the memo and said it will “halt or delay midnight regulations taken by the Trump administration that will not have taken effect by Inauguration Day.” “Midnight regulations” are rules created by an outgoing administration during the lame duck period, and the Biden team has singled out as an example a recent Department of Labor regulation regarding independent contractors. Psaki also emphasized that regulatory guidance will be included and considered in the freeze. Note: the regulatory freeze applies only to rules and guidance that have yet to take effect – the Congressional Review Act (CRA) may be used by Congressional Democrats to assess and potentially rollback already effective Trump era regulations promulgated after the CRA deadline for the rollback period, which we estimate to be August 21, 2020. |