OMB RFI Seeks Proposals to Rescind or Replace Regulations

On April 11, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) published a request for information to solicit ideas for deregulation. 90 Fed. Reg. 15481. OMB seeks proposals to rescind or replace regulations “that stifle American businesses and American ingenuity,” including regulations “that are unnecessary, unlawful, unduly burdensome, or unsound.” According to the notice, “comments should address the background of the rule and the reasons for the proposed rescission, with particular attention to regulations that are inconsistent with statutory text or the Constitution, where costs exceed benefits, where the regulation is outdated or unnecessary, or where regulation is burdening American businesses in unforeseen ways.” Comments are due May 12, 2025.

Earlier in the week, on April 9, 2025, President Trump issued the following memorandum and Executive Orders (EO) regarding federal regulations:

• Presidential Memorandum Regarding Directing the Repeal of Unlawful Regulations: EO 14219, “Ensuring Lawful Governance and Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Deregulatory Initiative,” directed the heads of all executive departments and agencies to identify certain categories of unlawful and potentially unlawful regulations within 60 days and begin plans to repeal them. The April 9, 2025, memorandum directs executive departments and agencies to prioritize evaluating each existing regulation’s lawfulness under the following U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, 603 U.S. 369 (2024); West Virginia v. EPA, 597 U.S. 697 (2022); SEC v. Jarkesy, 603 U.S. 109 (2024); Michigan v. EPA, 576 U.S. 743 (2015); Sackett v. EPA, 598 U.S. 651 (2023); Ohio v. EPA, 603 U.S. 279 (2024); Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, 594 U.S. 139 (2021); Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, 600 U.S. 181 (2023); Carson v. Makin, 596 U.S. 767 (2022); and Roman Cath. Diocese of Brooklyn v. Cuomo, 592 U.S. 14 (2020).
• EO on Reducing Anti-Competitive Regulatory Barriers: The EO begins the process for “eliminating anti-competitive regulations to revitalize the American economy,” directing agency heads, in consultation with the Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Attorney General, to complete a review of all regulations subject to their rulemaking authority and identify those that:
   
  • Create, or facilitate the creation of, de facto or de jure monopolies;
     
  • Create unnecessary barriers to entry for new market participants;
     
  • Limit competition between competing entities or have the effect of limiting competition between competing entities;
     
  • Create or facilitate licensure or accreditation requirements that unduly limit competition;
     
  • Unnecessarily burden the agency’s procurement processes, thereby limiting companies’ ability to compete for procurements; or
     
  • Otherwise impose anti-competitive restraints or distortions on the operation of the free market.
• EO on Zero-Based Regulatory Budgeting to Unleash American Energy: The EO directs certain agencies to incorporate a sunset provision into their regulations governing energy production to the extent permitted by law, “thus compelling those agencies to reexamine their regulations periodically to ensure that those rules serve the public good.”