January 2024

The George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center proudly welcomes Roger Nober as its new director, effective January 2024. Nober brings more than three decades of regulatory, management and public policy expertise to GW, having previously served as Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at BNSF Railway, Chairman of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board and Chief Counsel of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the U.S. House of Representatives.

“I am excited to join the Regulatory Studies Center and continue its tremendous work in the regulatory analysis and public policy fields. I have long admired the Center and am excited to work with founding director Susan Dudley, Trachtenberg Director Mary Tschirhart, and the talented faculty, students, and staff at the Center to help lead it into the future,” says Nober.

January 10, 2024
Commentary by Zhoudan (Zoey) Xie

This Regulatory Insight concludes another busy year, making it challenging to narrow down the top ten important regulatory developments. In 2023, the Biden administration took significant steps toward carrying out its “Modernizing Regulatory Review” initiative, starting with substantive changes to the regulatory review process and regulatory analysis. The administration continued prioritizing equity and climate-related issues through federal regulation and issued notable actions on other environmental, labor, and immigration issues, including reversals of Trump-era regulations.

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January 8, 2024
Public Interest Comment by Mary Sullivan

Many types of "junk" fees are unpopular, and research has shown that some of these fees are harmful to consumers. The Commission is right to be concerned about them. Yet the proposed rule tries to do too much. While some of these fees are harmful, some are likely not. More research is needed to understand which ones warrant regulating.

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January 3, 2024
Commentary by Nate Thompson

Our scholars and experts explored a wide range of topics last year and published leading insights on the regulatory developments that mattered most. Here's a recap of our most read essays for 2023.

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January 2, 2024
Letter to the Wall Street Journal by Brian Mannix

Yuval Levin is right to caution against the impulse to regulate AI in a state of panic (“Artificial Intelligence and the Law of the Horse,” op-ed, Dec. 22). Biotechnology was in a similar position in the early 1980s as research in recombinant DNA began to yield new medicines, pesticides, crops and more.

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December 11, 2023
Commentary by Zhoudan (Zoey) Xie

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs published the Fall 2023 Unified Agenda on December 6. This commentary gives an overview of the Agenda and highlights notable actions that agencies plan to issue in the near term.

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November 28, 2023
Commentary by Steven Balla & Sarah Hay

The Biden Administration is more targeted than predecessors in its efforts to improve public participation. But will tools focused on the "supply" side of the equation be enough to increase public engagement?

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November 10, 2023
Insight by Mark Febrizio, Sarah Hay & Zhoudan (Zoey) Xie

Within just a few days of the release of the final OMB Circular A-4 in November, the Center’s policy analysts compared the draft and final versions. Both documents are similar in length, containing over 90 pages (or over 40,000 words) of guidance on various aspects of regulatory analysis. This Insight highlights the differences and similarities in each section between the April draft Circular A-4 and the November final version. For an in-depth comparison of the original (2003) Circular A-4 and the current material, please reference our initial comparison.

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November 8, 2023
Commentary by Aram Gavoor

President Biden’s new Executive Order 14110, “Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Development and Use of Artificial Intelligence,” envisions a whole-of-government response to mitigating AI risks. As agencies look toward implementation, several challenges lay ahead.

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The GW Regulatory Studies Center and IBM Center for The Business of Government co-hosted a roundtable and reception November 16, 2023 in Washington, DC exploring emerging challenges and opportunities in regulatory practice. Look for summaries of the insights from the breakout sessions in the coming weeks. The event featured an engaging keynote by Harvard professor and former OIRA Administrator Cass Sunstein and an expert panel discussion of agencies' early explorations with emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence in the rulemaking process. 

At the post-event reception, OIRA Administrators from the past five presidential administrations raised toasts to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Executive Order 12866 and 20th anniversary of Circular A-4.

Nober Joins GW Regulatory Studies Center as Director, Railway Age
(December 26, 2023)

Susan Dudley spoke with Politico’s E&E News about OIRA's efforts to improve the usefulness of its meetings authorized under Executive Order 12866.  
Want to talk rules? The White House just made it easier (December 22, 2023). 

Promoting Best Practices for U.S. Regulatory Analysis: Open letter to OIRA Administrator from past SBCA presidents among the most-read posts of 2023 at The Regulatory Review (December 26, 2023).

Sarah Hay spoke with Government Executive on OIRA's latest public engagement efforts: Biden administration boasts it’s including more public input into agency rulemaking (December 7, 2023).

Steve Balla and Sarah Hay interviewed by Bloomberg Law on potential revocation of Labor Department rules under the Congressional Review Act (November 20, 2023).

Joe Cordes shared insights with Newswise on the federal budget impass that threatened a government shutdown (November 13, 2023).

Washington Examiner quoted Aram Gavoor in the article “Biden executive order on artificial intelligence faces enforcement obstacles" (October 31).

Mary Sullivan discussed the FTC proposal to ban junk fees with Nashville, Tennessee's WKRN-TV (October 27).

Research by the Regulatory Studies Center was cited by Zero Hedge in the article “'Back To The Future' Morphs Into Dystopia” (October 18, 2023).

Listen to our podcast for insights on regulatory trends. Recent discussions have explored OMB's Draft Circular A-4, effective public engagement strategies for federal agencies, the Spring 2023 Unified Agenda, and more.

Gifts to the GW Regulatory Studies Center will make a difference in our mission to improve regulatory policy through research, education and outreach. The Center is a respected, non-partisan source of information and analysis on regulatory policy. Our scholars regularly publish research in academic journals, have helped educate a generation of leaders in the rulemaking process and are called upon by members of Congress, executive agencies, national media and industry leaders to provide insights into key regulatory policies.

Your support is key to our ability to continue to provide the objective, high quality information that is essential to constructive discourse on regulatory matters and we respectfully request that you make a tax-deductible contribution to the Center this year.