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OMB Letterhead

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2008
Contact: OMB Communications, 202-395-7254

NEW REPORT SHOWS BOOST IN BENEFITS AND LOWER REGULATORY
COSTS FOR CONSUMERS

Washington, DC — Today, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued its draft of the eleventh annual “Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations”.  The report is now available for public comment on www.regulations.gov. 

The Report features a look back at the last ten years of major Federal regulations reviewed by OMB to examine their quantified and monetized benefits and costs.  The Report shows that the estimated annual benefits of major Federal regulations reviewed by OMB from October 1, 1997 to September 30, 2007 range from $122 billion to $656 billion, while the estimated annual costs range from $46 billion to $54 billion. 

Specific findings of the draft report include:

  • The average annual benefits of the regulations issued over the last seven years is 138% greater than the average annual benefits over the previous eight years.
  • The estimated benefits of major regulations issued from 1992 (the first year for which we have benefit estimates) to 2007 exceed the estimated costs by more than four fold.
  • The average annual costs of the regulations issued over the last seven years is about 24% less than the average annual costs over the previous 20 years.
  • Over the last 27 years for which we have cost data, the major regulations reviewed by OMB have added at least $139 billion to the overall yearly costs of regulations to the public.

In addition to the OMB review of major regulations, the Report also includes:

  • A brief summary of the analysis of major regulatory activity of independent agencies over ten years.
  • An update on agency implementation of the Information Quality Act, including a summary of the correction requests that were received by agencies in FY 2007 as well as updates on earlier requests and status reports for the Information Quality Bulletin for Peer Review, the Good Guidance Practices Bulletin, and the 2007 Memorandum on the Principles of Risk Analysis.
  • An update of the status of the 2004 Regulatory Reform nominations.
  • The thirteenth annual Report to Congress on Agency Compliance with the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act.

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