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.

Trump’s Decision to Hamstring California’s Climate Authority Is Illogical and Uninformed

Trump’s Decision to Hamstring California’s Climate Authority Is Illogical and Uninformed, by Alejandro Camacho and Robert Glicksman, October 4, 2019, The Revelator

Type: Op-Eds (Oct. 4, 2019)
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Author(s): Alejandro Camacho, Robert Glicksman
New Report Crowdsourced from Advocates Lays Out Progressive Vision for Just and Equitable Regulatory System

News Release: New Report Crowdsourced from Advocates Lays Out Progressive Vision for Just and Equitable Regulatory System

Type: News Releases (Sept. 25, 2019)
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Regulation as Social Justice: A Crowdsourced Blueprint for Building a Progressive Regulatory System

On June 5, 2019, the Center for Progressive Reform hosted a first-of-its-kind, one-day convening that brought together a diverse group of more than 60 progressive activists and academics. Our purpose was to begin the process of developing a progressive vision of the U.S. regulatory system – one that is not only robust and responsive enough to meet the immediate challenge of protecting people and the environment against unacceptable risks, but that also is institutionally designed to promote the broader social goals of justice and equity. CPR's James Goodwin synthesized the ideas into a report.

Type: Reports (Sept. 25, 2019)
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Author(s): James Goodwin
Regulation as Social Justice Library of Resources

In September 2019, CPR released Regulation as Social Justice: A Crowdsourced Blueprint for Building a Progressive Regulatory System, a report that synthesizes recommendations from more than 60 progressive advocates into a comprehensive, action-oriented agenda for rebuilding the regulatory system. To increase the usefulness of the report, CPR has created this web-based library of materials developed by CPR Member Scholars and staff along with our progressive allies that provides more details on the reforms included the report. We will continuously update this library as additional materials become available.

Type: Reports (Sept. 25, 2019)
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Author(s): James Goodwin
Trump's Deregulatory Zeal

Trump's Deregulatory Zeal, op-ed by Amy Sinden in The Revelator

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 10, 2019)
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Author(s): Amy Sinden
Another Trump rollback that will harm Texans

Another Trump rollback that will harm Texans, op-ed by Thomas McGarity

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 8, 2019)
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Author(s): Thomas McGarity
Trump Administration Rollbacks Disable Environmental Planning and Democracy

Trump Administration Rollbacks Disable Environmental Planning and Democracy, op-ed by Alejandro Camacho in The Hill

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 3, 2019)
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Author(s): Alejandro Camacho
Can the Appalachian Trail Block a Natural Gas Pipeline?

Can the Appalachian Trail Block a Natural Gas Pipeline?, op-ed by Noah Sachs in American Prospect

Type: Op-Eds (Aug. 14, 2019)
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Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework

Regulation is frequently less successful than it could be, largely because the allocation of authority to regulatory institutions, and the relationships between them, are misunderstood. As a result, attempts to create new regulatory programs or mend under-performing ones are often poorly designed. In their new book, Reorganizing Government: A Functional and Dimensional Framework, Alejandro Camacho and Robert Glicksman explain how past approaches have failed to appreciate the full diversity of alternative approaches to organizing governmental authority.

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Author(s): Alejandro Camacho, Robert Glicksman
Trump's Role Model
Trump's Role Model
Type: Op-Eds (July 30, 2019)
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Author(s): David Driesen

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