President Trump issued an Executive Order on May 19 to reduce regulatory requirements to support businesses in recovering from the economic downturn brought on by COVID-19. The Order states that:
Agencies should address this economic emergency by rescinding, modifying, waiving, or providing exemptions from regulations and other requirements that may inhibit economic recovery, consistent with applicable law and with protection of the public health and safety, with national and homeland security, and with budgetary priorities and operational feasibility. They should also give businesses, especially small businesses, the confidence they need to re-open by providing guidance on what the law requires; by recognizing the efforts of businesses to comply with often-complex regulations in complicated and swiftly changing circumstances; and by committing to fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication.
Continuing, the President’s order directed that “the heads of all agencies “shall identify regulatory standards that may inhibit economic recovery and shall consider taking appropriate action . . . to temporarily or permanently rescind, modify, waive, or exempt persons or entities from those requirements . . . for the purpose of promoting job creation and economic growth, insofar as doing so is consistent with the law . . . .”
While specific regulations that might be affected by the new policy have not yet been identified by the Administration, the Acting Air Chief of the Environmental Protection Agency said on May 20 that the new order “is going to push us toward viewing our regulations, temporary or otherwise, through a different lens.” In other words, changes are coming.