I was interested, but also didn't want to scrub through a podcast. Summary:
Cass Sunstein was the administer of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The OIRA is given the remit to review drafted rules (ie regulations) that various federal agencies want to enact. The OIRA is supposed to perform an external cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regulations. OIRA is suppose to turn around rulings in 90 days.
While Cass Sunstein was administrator (2009 to 2012), various pieces of regulation were submitted for review, and ended up being reviewed for ~3+ years. Examples include:
* Requiring rear-view cameras (submitted for review in 2011, regulation finally passed in 2014 with a 2018 deadline for compliance)
* The silicosis workplace safety regulations (as mentioned - submitted in 2011, finally passed review in 2013)
* Coal ash handling regulations (from the EPA) delayed from 2009 to 2014
For the specific case of silicosis specifically, it doesn't appear that the OIRA ended up blocking the regulation, though it certainly slowed it down.
It is worth noting that these delays continued after Sunstein left office, and there's certainly evidence of OIRA significantly delaying review processes prior to Suntein's term as administrator.
Thank you for collecting this. A couple years to draft & study some proposed regulation doesn't seem that heinous to me. It would make sense to not hastily publish a regulation that will last decades without really considering it and its effects well. They can be a source of lawsuits, and I would assume, you want it to be effective which can take some study.
These are regulations that have already been studied extensively at the agency level. OIRA’s cost-benefit analysis is a second layer of review on top of that.
It’d be interesting to see a cost-benefit analysis of OIRA’s cost-benefit analysis. All the delays aren’t free.
The refusal of politicians to mandate motorcycle helmets for car drivers and pedestrians needlessly increases the number of humans dying as well.
Since the article is referring to "83 cases among countertop workers identified across the state [of California] since 2019", it's almost certain helmets would save more lives than anything you do about engineered stone. So what's the excuse there?
There are already regulations requiring ppe and ventilation that aren't followed, they are already dying despite regulations.
I'm not saying that we need more delays. I'm also not saying that there isn't room for more regulation here, but just slapping any poorly considered regulation down may not solve the problem.
Cass Sunstein was the administer of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The OIRA is given the remit to review drafted rules (ie regulations) that various federal agencies want to enact. The OIRA is supposed to perform an external cost-benefit analysis of the proposed regulations. OIRA is suppose to turn around rulings in 90 days.
While Cass Sunstein was administrator (2009 to 2012), various pieces of regulation were submitted for review, and ended up being reviewed for ~3+ years. Examples include:
* Requiring rear-view cameras (submitted for review in 2011, regulation finally passed in 2014 with a 2018 deadline for compliance)
* The silicosis workplace safety regulations (as mentioned - submitted in 2011, finally passed review in 2013)
* Coal ash handling regulations (from the EPA) delayed from 2009 to 2014
For the specific case of silicosis specifically, it doesn't appear that the OIRA ended up blocking the regulation, though it certainly slowed it down.
Some news articles:
* https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-ho...
* https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-regu...
* https://www.theregreview.org/2013/11/26/26-verchick-silica/
It is worth noting that these delays continued after Sunstein left office, and there's certainly evidence of OIRA significantly delaying review processes prior to Suntein's term as administrator.