Congress has approved a first-time Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution repealing a years-old agency guidance, a measure that appears likely to bolster efforts by deregulatory opponents, who are currently seeking a precedent-setting court ruling that would allow them to enforce the law's mandate that agencies submit such documents to Congress for approval or disapproval.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is warning OSHA nominee Scott Mugno that the labor movement will be “monitoring his every step,” and that they will organize if he attempts to “move backwards” on worker protections, increasing pressure on the nominee to break from the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda.
Critics of President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) forcing OSHA, EPA and other agencies to identify two existing rules for repeal for every new rule they issue are adding to their district court complaint over the EO, citing alleged harm from several agencies' delayed rulemaking efforts that the plaintiffs argue are a direct result of the order.
Industry attorneys say a slow nomination process has left Labor Secretary Alex Acosta to push the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda “without anywhere close to a full house,” and to expect a “minimalist deregulatory” approach and little policy changes from OSHA as the agency awaits Senate confirmation of permanent leadership.
House Republicans are advancing legislation that seeks to require OSHA and other agencies to ease public access to their “significant” guidance documents as part of a broader regulatory review effort targeting such informal policies, but are stopping short of acting on industry calls to subject guidance to formal notice-and-comment requirements.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a new report is urging the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to push OSHA, EPA and other agencies to avoid rushing rules into effect, especially late in a president's term, in order to ensure compliance with the Congressional Review Act (CRA), though OMB doubts that there is more it can do.
House Republicans are urging their Senate counterparts to advance pending regulatory reform legislation that would raise the bar for OSHA and other agencies to craft new rules, charging the measure is needed to ensure agencies actually account for rules' impacts on small businesses.
The Office of Management & Budget (OMB) has again found that the benefits of OSHA, EPA and other agencies' rules vastly exceed their costs, but the draft report issued late last week also indicates that the Trump administration is considering revising its accounting methods for rules in ways that could trim their estimated benefits in the future.
A federal district judge has rejected a legal challenge brought by public interest groups to President Donald Trump's executive order (EO) directing OSHA, EPA and other agencies to identify two existing rules for potential repeal in exchange for every new rule they issue, saying the plaintiffs failed to prove harm from the order -- but stopping short of dismissing the case entirely.
With online companies dominating the transportation and delivery sectors, the rise of contracting jobs is at an all-time high, though the trend is raising concerns about how OSHA will address the growing number of workers classified as “independent contractors” who are not covered under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act.