Regulatory Policy

Regulatory safeguards play a vital role in protecting us from hazards and ensuring that companies that pollute, make unsafe products, and create workplace hazards bear the cost of cleaning up their messes and preventing injuries and deaths. Still, the regulatory system is far from perfect: Rules take too long to develop; enforcement is often feeble; and political pressure from regulated industries has led to weak safeguards.

These systemic problems are made all the more severe by the determination of the Trump administration to undercut sensible safeguards across virtually all aspects of federal regulation. Moreover, the President and his team have taken aim at the the process by which such safeguards are developed, aiming to take a system already slanted in favor of industry profit at the expense of health, safety and the environment, and make it even less protective. For example, where critics of the use of cost-benefit analysis see a system that understates the value of safeguards and overstates the cost of implementing them -- making it difficult to adopt needed protections -- the Trump administration seeks simply to ignore benefits of safeguards, pretending they do not exist. The result is a regulatory system that fails to enforce landmark laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act and more.

CPR exposes and opposes efforts by opponents of sensible safeguards to undermine the regulatory system, fighting back against knee-jerk opposition to environmental, health, and safety protections. Below, see what CPR Members Scholars and staff have had to say in reports, testimony, op-eds and more. Use the search box to narrow the list.

Robert R.M. Verchick, Thomas McGarity and Sidney Shapiro's December 18, 2015 letter to House leadership re the SCRUB Act of 2015.

Robert R.M. Verchick, Thomas McGarity and Sidney Shapiro's December 18, 2015 letter to House leadership re the SCRUB Act of 2015.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Dec. 18, 2015)
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Author(s): Robert Verchick, Thomas McGarity, Sidney Shapiro
Robert R.M. Verchick's December 9, 2015 testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on 'regulatory budgeting' proposals

Robert R.M. Verchick's December 9, 2015 testimony before the Senate Budget Committee on 'regulatory budgeting' proposals

Type: Legislative Testimony (Dec. 9, 2015)
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Author(s): Robert Verchick
Federal White Collar Crime: Six Case Studies Drawn from Ongoing Prosecutions to Protect Public Health, Worker and Consumer Safety, and the Environment

Federal White Collar Crime: Six Case Studies Drawn from Ongoing Prosecutions to Protect Public Health, Worker and Consumer Safety, and the Environment, CPR Issue Alert 1507, by Rena Steinzor, November 2015.

Type: Reports (Nov. 18, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
William Buzbee's November 3, 2015 testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law on regulatory reform.

William Buzbee's November 3, 2015 testimony before the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law on regulatory reform.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Nov. 3, 2015)
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Author(s): William Buzbee
Sidney Shapiro's letter to Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees, on judicial review of independent agency analysis.

Sidney Shapiro's October 13, 2015 letter to Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committees, on judicial review of independent agency analysis.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Oct. 13, 2015)
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Author(s): Sidney Shapiro
Delving into GM's Crimes

Delving into GM's Crimes, op-ed by Rena Steinzor and Rob Weissman

Type: Op-Eds (Oct. 6, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
VW and GM scandals show why regulation matters

VW and GM scandals show why regulation matters, op-ed by Rena Steinzor and Rob Verchcik

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 30, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor, Robert Verchick
Sidney Shapiro's testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on various regulatory reform bills

Sidney Shapiro's September 16, 2015 testimony, before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs on various regulatory reform bills.

Type: Legislative Testimony (Sept. 16, 2015)
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Author(s): Sidney Shapiro
Criminal Prosecutions Get Serious as the Regulatory System Sinks to Its Knees

Criminal Prosecutions Get Serious as the Regulatory System Sinks to Its Knees, op-ed by Rena Steinzor

Type: Op-Eds (Aug. 28, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor
Maryland's Regulation SWAT Team

Writing in the Baltimore Sun, Rena Steinzor takes Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to task for his efforts to put business executives in charge of an effort to identify state regulations to be gutted, including those protecting the Chesapeake Bay.

Type: Op-Eds (July 30, 2015)
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Author(s): Rena Steinzor

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