Regulatory and Quasi-Regulatory Activity without OMB and Benefit-Cost Review

This paper illustrates four types of regulatory and quasi-regulatory activities that are operating outside Office of Management and Budget and benefit-cost review: (1) agency issuance of quasi-regulatory documents such as memoranda, policy statements, and guidance documents; (2) agency approval of state regulatory policies under federal laws that authorize selective waiver of federal preemption of state regulation; (3) federal agency issuance of hazard determinations related to technologies, substances, and practices that impact the litigation and regulatory environment; and (4) federal agency decisions to enter into binding agreements with pro-litigants favoring certain regulatory outcomes, where settlements create nondiscretionary agency duties to initiate new rulemakings.