In a victory for business, the Bush administration issued a new directive requiring government agencies to assess the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all the regulations they propose to offer in a year.

In addition to the cost-benefit analysis, President Bush's amendment to Executive Order 12866 compels agencies to identify the specific market failure that requires a new agency action.  The amendment also requires each agency to have a presidentially appointed regulatory policy officer to oversee rulemaking and coordinate with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Finally, the amendment obligates guidance documents, which clarify how the agency will enforce a regulation, to go through the same OMB review process as a proposed regulation.

"This is the most serious attempt by any chief executive to get control over the regulatory process, which spews out thousands of regulations a year," according to Bill Kovacs, Chamber vice president for Environment, Technology and Regulatory Affairs. "Because of this executive order, regulations will be less onerous and more reasonable."

U.S. Chamber member Isabelle Hilliard, owner of Old Dominion Home Health Services in Richmond, Virginia, welcomed the administration's move. "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services sends so much paper and has so many rules," Hilliard says. "And you really don't have any voice in the process. You're just required to do it and make no mistakes or you'll be penalized."

When she moved her office just a couple of blocks, Hilliard had to fill out a 26-page form notifying the Department of Health and Human Services of her change of address.

The Chamber supports efforts to help tame an out-of-control regulatory system. To learn more about the Chamber's policies on regulatory reform, visit www. uschamber.com/goto/regulatory.