Earlier this year, President Biden issued an Executive Order seeking to "modernize the regulatory process to advance policies that promote the public interest and address national priorities." Among other things, this EO called upon the Office of Management and Budget's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to revise OMB Circular A-4, which provides agencies with guidance as to how they should conduct regulatory analysis when considering and proposing new regulations.
As called for in the EO, OIRA has proposed a range of revisions to Circular A-4 to update its requirements. Many of the changes are welcome revisions. Others, however, have prompted concerns, particularly with regard to how the revisions would affect cost-benefit analyses of proposed agency regulations.
On Monday, all former Presidents of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis submitted a letter to OIRA identifying concerns with the proposed revisions that, in their view, could unnecessarily politicize cost-benefit analyses, and reduce the value of centralized executive branch review of agency regulations. They write:
