September 13, 2019
For nearly 40 years, the White House has played a preeminent role in the federal rulemaking process, through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). And OIRA’s primary tool of oversight, from the beginning, has been cost-benefit analysis.
Forty years seems like a long time, but in the history of American institutions, OIRA is actually very young. With that in mind, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State brought together scholars and practitioners to reflect on the current state of OIRA oversight and cost-benefit analysis, and on possible roads ahead for reform and modernization.
As it happens, this issue has a special connection to the Gray Center—or, more specifically, to the Gray Center’s namesake, Ambassador C. Boyden Gray. As Counsel to President Reagan’s Task Force on Regulatory Relief, Ambassador Gray wrote Executive Order 12291, creating OIRA. Since then, OIRA’s role has continued to grow and evolve—most recently, in President Trump’s Executive Order 13771, establishing “regulatory budgets” for agencies.
“OIRA is the cockpit of the regulatory state,” according to President Obama’s OIRA Administrator, Cass Sunstein. During this day-long public policy conference, experts looked inside the cockpit, to discuss what’s working well, and what’s due for an upgrade.
Agenda
All sessions were held in Van Metre Hall Auditorium, George Mason University, 3351 Fairfax Drive, Arlington, VA 22201
8:15 – 8:55 am – Registration and Breakfast, Van Metre Hall, Multi-Purpose Room
8:55 – 9:00 am – Welcome, Van Metre Hall Auditorium
Adam White, Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
9:00 – 10:15 am – Panel 1: What Role Should OIRA Play?
Christopher DeMuth, Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute, and Distinguished Senior Fellow, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Susan Dudley, Director, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, and Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, George Washington University
Sally Katzen, Professor of Practice and Distinguished Scholar in Residence, NYU School of Law, and Distinguished Senior Fellow, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Stuart Shapiro, Associate Dean of Faculty, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University
Moderator: Adam White, Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
10:15 – 10:30 am – Break
10:30 am – 11:45 am – Panel 2: Cost-Benefit Analysis in Court
William Buzbee, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
Bridget C.E. Dooling, Research Professor, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center
Ambassador C. Boyden Gray, Founding Partner, Boyden Gray & Associates PLLC, and Distinguished Senior Fellow, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Paul Noe, Vice President of Public Policy, American Forest & Paper Association
Moderator: Kristin Hickman, Harlan Albert Rogers Professor of Law, University of Minnesota Law School, and Associate Director, Corporate Institute
11:45 – 11:55 am – Break
11:55 am – 1:00 pm – Lunch and Keynote
Paul J. Ray, Acting Administrator, White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
1:00 – 1:10 pm – Break
1:10 – 2:25 pm – Panel 3: Regulatory Budgets & Executive Order 13771
Anthony Campau, Director of Government Regulation, Clark Hill PLC, and Visiting Fellow in Regulatory Policy, The Heritage Foundation
Christopher DeMuth, Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute, and Distinguished Senior Fellow, the C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
Richard J. Pierce, Jr., Lyle T. Alverson Professor of Law, The George Washington University Law School
Jim Tozzi, Managing Director, Center for Regulatory Effectiveness
Moderator: Andrew Kloster, Deputy Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State
2:25 – 2:40 pm – Break
2:40 – 3:55 pm – Panel 4: Improving Agency Cost-Benefit Analysis
Caroline Cecot, Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
Connor Raso, Senior Counsel, Securities and Exchange Commission
Richard A. Williams, Writer and Senior Affiliated Scholar, Mercatus Center, George Mason University and Affiliated Scholar, Utah State Center for Growth and Opportunity
William Yeatman, Research Fellow, Cato Institute
Moderator: Adam White, Executive Director, The C. Boyden Gray Center for the Study of the Administrative State and Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
3:55 pm – Adjourn
Research Papers
- Transparency in Agency Cost-Benefit Analysis
Caroline Cecot, Assistant Professor of Law, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University; and Robert W. Hahn, Senior Fellow, Technology Policy Institute, Visiting Professor, Smith School, and University of Oxford, and Senior Policy Fellow, Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy - OIRA Past and Future
Susan Dudley, Director, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, and Distinguished Professor of Practice, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, George Washington University - David versus Godzilla: Bigger Stones
Jerry Ellig, Research Professor, Regulatory Studies Center, The George Washington University, and Richard Williams, Writer and Senior Affiliated Scholar, Mercatus Center, George Mason University and Affiliated Scholar, Utah State Center for Growth and Opportunity - Codifying the Cost-Benefit State
Brian F. Mannix, Research Professor, GW Regulatory Studies Center, and Bridget C.E. Dooling, Research Professor, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center - The Ascendancy of the Cost-Benefit State?
Paul R. Noe, Vice President of Public Policy, American Forest & Paper Association, and John D. Graham, Professor, the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University - OIRA’s Dual Role and the Future of Cost-Benefit Analysis
Stuart Shapiro, Associate Dean of Faculty, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University - OIRA: Past, Present and Future
Jim Tozzi, Managing Director, Center for Regulatory Effectiveness - Why Two Congressional OIRAs Are Better Than One
William Yeatman, Research Fellow, Cato Institute
Panel 1 included (L-R) Gray Center Senior Distinguished Fellows, Sally Katzen and Christopher DeMuth, along with Rutgers University’s Stuart Shapiro, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center’s Susan Dudley, and moderator Adam White, Gray Center Executive Director. Sally Katzen, Gray Center Distinguished Senior Fellow, responds to Susan Dudley’s new research during the conference’s first panel on “What Role Should OIRA Play?” Gray Center Distinguished Senior Fellow, Christopher DeMuth, provides his thoughts on OIRA’s role during the conference’s 1st panel. Panel 2 featured Georgetown University Law Center’s William Buzbee, Boyden Gray & Associates’ Ambassador C. Boyden Gray, George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center’s Bridget Dooling, American Forest & Paper Association’s Paul Noe, and moderator Kristin Hickman of the University of Minnesota Law School. Gray Center Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ambassador C. Boyden Gray, provides comments during panel 2 on “Cost-Benefit Analysis in Court.” Ambassador C. Boyden Gray of Boyden Gray & Associates and Bridget Dooling of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center chat during the conference’s 2nd panel on “Cost-Benefit Analysis in Court.” Paul J. Ray, Acting Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), provided the keynote address at this conference on the Future of White House Regulatory Oversight and Cost-Benefit Analysis. Paul J. Ray addresses attendees during lunch The conference’s 3rd panel featured (L-R) The George Washington University Law School’s Richard J. Pierce, Jr., Gray Center Distinguished Senior Fellow Christopher DeMuth, Clark Hill’s Anthony Campau, The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness’s Jim Tozzi, and moderator Andrew Kloster, Deputy Director of the Gray Center. Conference speaker and author Susan Dudley asks a question during the conference’s 3rd panel The 4th and final panel at the conference featured (L-R) the Mercatus Center’s Richard Williams, the Cato Institute’s William Yeatman, SEC’s Connor Raso, Antonin Scalia Law School’s Caroline Cecot, and moderator Adam White, Executive Director of the Gray Center. Caroline Cecot, Assistant Professor of Law at Antonin Scalia Law School, discusses the paper she co-authored with Robert Hahn on “Transparency in Agency Cost-Benefit Analysis” Richard Williams’ co-author, Jerry Ellig of the George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center, joined him on during the Q&A for panel 4 to take questions on their working paper, “David versus Godzilla: Bigger Stones.” Conference Speakers Paul Noe and Christopher DeMuth chat with an attendee at the conference The Gray Center’s Alexander Hamilton Student Fellows, (L-R) Johan Englén, Kevin Case, and Gelane Diamond, listen to conference speakers’ discussion.