Because of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting government response, many federal agencies have temporarily suspended or modified existing regulations. Some observers have questioned whether regulations that are not needed in an emergency are needed afterward, and some policymakers have even proposed a commission to review amended rules and determine if they are necessary. In a new analysis, AAF’s Director of Regulatory Policy Dan Bosch assesses two approaches to establishing a regulatory review commission.

His central points:

• A regulatory review commissions could evaluate whether suspended or modified rules are truly necessary absent a national emergency and fast-track a measure to a vote in Congress;
• Most recommendations envision a model based on the Base Realignment and Closure commissions, with independent experts developing a list of regulations modified or suspended temporarily because of COVID-19 that then gets an up-or-down vote in Congress; and
• An alternative and more aggressive approach, recently introduced in the House of Representatives, would instead form several commissions to develop lists of rules that must stay in place, with the rest ceasing to have effect, although this approach will likely struggle to gain bipartisan support.

Read the analysis.