Midnight Rulemaking PDF Download

At the end of every recent presidential administration involving a change in the party controlling the White House, the level of rulemaking activity by federal agencies tends to increase. On May 9, 2008, White House Chief of Staff Joshua B. Bolten issued a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and agencies stating that "regulations to be finalized in this Administration should be proposed no later than June 1, 2008, and final regulations should be issued no later than November 1, 2008." Despite this directive, federal agencies appear to be issuing an increasing number of "midnight rules" at the end of the Bush Administration, including a number of rules attracting controversy. One approach that previous Presidents have used to control rulemaking at the start of their administrations has been the imposition of a moratorium on new regulations by executive departments and independent agencies, accompanied by a requirement that the departments and agencies postpone the effective dates of certain rules. However, for rules that have already been published in the Federal Register, the only way for the departments or agencies to eliminate or change the rules is by going back through the rulemaking process. Although the Administrative Procedure Act permits agencies to shorten the rulemaking process for "good cause," an agency's use of this exception is subject to judicial review. The Congressional Review Act permits the use of expedited procedures, primarily in the Senate, to disapprove agencies' final rules. The CRA requires that agencies submit all final rules to Congress before they take effect. If Congress adjourns its annual session sine die less than 60 "legislative days" in the House of Representatives or 60 "session days" in the Senate after a rule is submitted to it, then the rule is carried over to the next session of Congress and subject to possible disapproval during that session. Although only one rule has been disapproved using CRA procedures since the legislation was enacted in 1996, Congress has frequently added provisions to agency appropriations bills to prohibit the finalization of particular proposed rules, prohibit the development of particular regulations, restrict the implementation or enforcement of certain rules, and put conditions on the development or implementation of particular rules. Unlike CRA disapprovals, however, these provisions do not eliminate the regulations from the Code of Federal Regulations, and do not prevent the agency from issuing the same or similar regulation. Legislation introduced late in the 110th Congress (H.R. 7296) would generally prevent any "midnight rule" (i.e., a rule published in the last 90 days that a President serves in office) from taking effect for 90 days after an agency head is appointed by a new President, and would allow a new agency head to disapprove a midnight rule within 90 days after being appointed. This report will be updated when additional information becomes available.