Memorandum From the President on Federal Regulatory Management

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies
Subject: Strengthening Regulatory Management

I am deeply committed to seeing that the regulatory agencies perform their important missions without imposing unnecessary costs. Last March I issued Executive Order 12044 as a first step toward ensuring that regulations achieve their statutory goals in the most effective and balanced way. To reinforce this effort, I am establishing a Regulatory Council, to include all Executive Departments and Agencies with major regulatory responsibilities. The independent regulatory commissions will be invited to join. I am also extending the Regulatory Analysis Review program and accelerating the "sunset" process under Executive Order 12044.

The Regulatory Council will help inform me, the public, and the Congress about the cumulative impact of regulation on the economy. It will publish, at least every six months, a unified calendar of major regulations, using the criteria defined in the Executive Order. This calendar will state the goals and benefits, legal requirements, and expected timetables of the regulations, along with available estimates of economic impacts. The first calendar will be published no later than February 1, 1979.

My Executive Office agencies and I will work with the Council and the calendar. The Council will help ensure that regulations are well coordinated, do not conflict, and do not impose excess burdens on particular sectors of the economy. OMB will use the calendar in its key role of overseeing agency compliance with the Executive Order.

The Council will consult with the Congress and the public as it proceeds. In the next few weeks, I will meet with the Council to discuss the development of the calendar, identify cross-cutting issues, and emphasize the need to regulate in the least costly, most effective manner. The Council will be chaired by a member for a one year term. The first chairman, serving through January 1, 1980, will be Douglas Costle. The departments should participate in their capacities as regulators.

The regulatory calendar will be used by the Regulatory Analysis Review Group that I established on an interim basis early this year. This group assists agencies in analyzing the economic consequences of proposed major rules and in exploring alternative approaches. The group discusses and submits formal comments on 10 to 20 of the most important regulations proposed each year. Today, I am extending this program through June 30, 1980.

The above steps will further improve the process of issuing new regulations. The Executive Order also requires agencies to prepare lists of existing regulations for "sunset" review. As part of my effort to eliminate unnecessarily inflationary regulations, I am asking you to review these lists and identify additional major regulations which can be modified or eliminated to reduce costs. Candidates for such reviews should be submitted to OMB 'by December 1, 1978.

These steps will accelerate our progress toward a regulatory system that meets the needs of the public at the least cost. Your personal attention to this effort is essential to its success.

JIMMY CARTER

APPENDIX

Regulatory Council

Department of Treasury

Department of Justice

Department of Agriculture

Department of Commerce

Department of the Interior

Department of Labor

Department of Health, Education, and Welfare

Department of Housing and Urban Development

Department of Transportation

Department of Energy

General Services Administration

Environmental Protection Agency

Veterans Administration

Administrative Conference of the United States

The independent regulatory commissions will be invited to join the Council. Agencies in the Executive Office of the President will participate with it.