The FDA and DOT take steps to regulate electronic cigarettes, twenty-four states challenge the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, and more…
IN THE NEWS
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submitted for review its final rule regulating electronic cigarettes to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), while the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued an interim final rule banning e-cigarettes in checked baggage on commercial flights.
- Within several days of the publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Power Plan in the Federal Register, twenty-four States filed a petition for review of the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, in which they asked the court to set aside the rule because it allegedly exceeds the agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act.
- In response to what it called the “excessive rates and egregious fees” of prison phone calls, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced measures aimed at reining in these costs by setting maximum call rates and banning most “add-on fees.”
- Expressing his concerns with standardized testing, President Obama asked the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to work with states and school districts to ensure that all school tests satisfy three principles: they are of high quality, do not occupy excessive classroom time, and are not used as the only source of information to gauge student progress.
- At a U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing that was held to assess the implementation and effects of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) net neutrality rules, House members heard testimony from economists who reportedly argued that the rule would negatively affect future investment.
- In light of recent state efforts to regulate the fantasy sports industry—such as the introduction of a California bill this week that would mandate fantasy sports licensing— the Fantasy Sports Trade Association announced the Fantasy Sports Control Agency, an “independent agency charged with creating a strict, transparent and effective system of self-regulation” over fantasy sports businesses.
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy wrote an op-ed in The Hill highlighting the EPA’s recent enforcement actions against BP and Mosaic, arguing that “America still needs an environmental watchdog with grit and teeth.”
- The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released a publication that evaluates and compares countries’ regulatory systems, as well as analyzes three regulatory policy tools: “Regulatory Impact Assessment, stakeholder engagement and ex post evaluation.”
WHAT WE’RE READING THIS WEEK
- In a forthcoming article for the New York University Law Review, Professor Neomi Rao discussed her notion of a “collective Congress,” in which congressional members can only act as a group. Rao argued that delegation of legislative power disrupts this idea, because it gives individuals members the ability to yield administrative influence.
- A U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) report concluded that the U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) overpaid disability insurance beneficiaries by $11 billion from 2005-2014 because of insufficient oversight, processing deficiencies, and a lack of automated reporting tools.
