September 2024

The GW Regulatory Studies Center recently launched the CRA Window Exploratory Dashboard, an innovative tool designed to provide valuable insights into the potential regulatory implications of a political transition in Washington. The dashboard allows users to explore the set of final rules published in the Federal Register in 2024, and experiment with how various effective dates of the CRA 'lookback' window could affect the rules available for congressional review in 2025 if there is a change in presidential party.  

"The CRA dashboard is an essential resource for regulated companies, federal policymakers, advocacy groups, journalists, and academics who want greater awareness of the regulatory state of play in 2025," said RSC Director Roger Nober.

Looking to update your professional development without committing to a full-time graduate program? The Graduate Certificate in Regulatory Policy and Practice at the GW Trachtenberg School is a great option! 

This certificate is ideally suited for those interested in formulating regulatory policy as policy analysts in the executive and legislative branches at any level of government or influencing regulatory matters in the non-profit or private sectors. Some students in the program seek to expand their knowledge without wishing to commit to a master’s degree program. Others can use it as a springboard for other degree programs, especially the Master of Public Administration (MPA), Master of Public Policy (MPP), and Master of Arts in Environmental and Sustainability Policy (MA-ESP). Now accepting applications.

If you read the new book by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and co-author Janie Nitze, you'll be excited to see several citations of the GW Regulatory Studies Center!

Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law includes graphs and statistics from our popular RegStats series. Highly recommended reading for all regulatory policy wonks!

The Regulatory Studies team welcomed Nick Hanset as a Legal Research Assistant. Nick is a third year law student at GW and his research interests include administrative law. Nick is a graduate of Oregon State University where he studied Finance and Economics.

Congrats to our former graduate research assistant [data engineer] Yaxin Zhang who has moved to a new role at Hill Research Inc! Yaxin earned her Masters in Data Science this spring and will now focus on building machine learning models for medical applications.

After six impressive years at the Center, Senior Policy Analyst Mark Febrizio has started a new chapter as a data analyst at Capital One. It was a joy having him on our team and we're excited he'll get to keep innovating as a data scientist! Meanwhile, if you know any policy professionals, tell them the RSC is looking for one!

September 17, 2024
Insight by Stone Washington & Izam Karukappadath

Formal agency adjudication reserves the final decision-making authority to the political leadership of the agency. Many organizations and watchdogs have taken issue with how political officials render decisions akin to appellate judges over disputes of their own policy. As certain agencies accumulate more power for their political leaders, they reserve less decision-making authority and discretion to their administrative law judges. 

Read More > 

August 8, 2024
Commentary by Mary Sullivan

The Federal Trade Commission has declared war on so-called “junk fees” with its proposed Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees. The Commission is right to be concerned. Some fees warrant regulation. But the proposed rule goes too far, both with the types of fees covered and its economy-wide scope. Rather than simply prohibiting fees that are unambiguously harmful, the proposed rule would also target fees and fee practices that provide benefits to consumers and have legitimate business purposes.

Read More >

Susan Dudley will speak at a Federalist Society Conference on the Future of Business Lawyering on September 27.

Roger Nober, Susan Dudley and Aram Gavoor will speak at the Better Business Bureau’s Center for Industry Self-Regulation’s Soft Law Summit on September 24.  

Roger Nober participated in the Pacific Legal Foundation’s Regulatory State Strategy Summit (September 13, 2024).  

Susan Dudley spoke to the National Association of Counties about the regulatory process and opportunities for county governments to get involved (September 10, 2024).  

Susan Dudley gave remarks at an event hosted by George Mason University honoring the ideas and legacy of C. Boyden Gray, former White House Counsel and Ambassador to the European Union (September 6, 2024). 

Roger Nober discussed recent administrative law rulings and regulatory impacts with members of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s transportation and infrastructure interest section (September 4, 2024).  

Throughout 2024, Roger Nober served on the FAA-chartered SpARC rulemaking committee of industry experts formulating a safety framework for the potential commercialization of human spaceflight. 

Steven Balla and Susan Dudley spoke to a Capitol Hill audience at a Regulatory Transparency Project event: Will the Congressional Review Act be Revived in 2025? (September 4, 2024). 

Roger Nober was a panelist for the Washington Legal Foundation webinar: From Railroads to the Internet: Legal Limits on Common Carriage (August 29, 2024).  

On August 21, Steven Balla was a panelist in Brazil’s capital for a discussion on social participation at a national regulatory conference organized by the Secretariat of Competitiveness and Regulatory Policy and the Inter-American Development Bank. Balla also interviewed several regulatory officials amid the government’s plans to implement its own OIRA-like agency to oversee regulation quality and best practices in Brazil. Balla plans to coordinate with Brazilian academics and practitioners later this year on upcoming papers or commentaries sharing more details about the project. 

Susan Dudley moderated the Regulatory Transparency Project webinar: WV v. EPA, Two Years Later: Updates on the Major Questions Doctrine (August 14, 2024). 

Roger Nober was interviewed by Unchained Crypto: Why the Investigation Into Gary Gensler’s Hiring Practices Is Unlikely to Result in Any Action (September 12, 2024). 

Susan Dudley was quoted in Bloomberg Law: SEC’s Gensler Sees ESG Plans Thwarted as Biden’s Term Nears End (September 9, 2024). 

RSC data cited in the Wall Street Journal: The Regulatory State is in Flux Like Never Before, and Businesses are Hating it (September 2, 2024). 

Biometric Update quoted from a public interest comment by Mark Febrizio: US DOJ May Soon Issue Rule on Foreign Access to Americans’ Data (August 28, 2024). 

Roger Nober was quoted in Axios: Treasury Will Define US Crypto Policy — Eventually (August 27, 2024). 

CEI cited RSC's CRA Window Exploratory Dashboard: Congressional Review Act votes could claw back some of Biden’s regulations (August 26, 2024). 

Forbes cited RSC's CRA Window Exploratory Dashboard: A Glide Path For Overturning Biden Regulations In The 119th Congress (August 26, 2024). 

The GW Hatchet interviewed Steven Balla and Sarah Hay to learn more about the Center's CRA Window Exploratory Dashboard: Regulatory Studies Center launches dashboard to track federal regulations (August 19, 2024). 

RSC data cited in Politico: Let’s Go CRA-zy? (August 8, 2024).  

Steven Balla was quoted by Lever News in the article, Vance Backed Attempts To Gut Dozens of Biden Rules (August 6, 2024). 

Roger Nober is quoted in The Detroit News: End of Chevron Deference Carries Potentially Vast Impacts for Automakers (August 5, 2024).  

RegStats data cited in Governing: States’ Opportunity to Take on a Bigger Regulatory Role (July 30, 2024). 

Joseph Cordes was interviewed on KAGS-TV: What We Can VERIFY About Project 2025 and the FDIC (July 17, 2024).

Listen to our podcast for insights on regulatory trends. Recent discussions have explored the Congressional Review Act, Biden's Data Security executive order, effective public engagement strategies for federal agencies, and more.