On April 6, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued proposed revisions to Circular A-4. The current Circular, issued in 2003, has provided guidance to federal agencies on the development of regulatory analysis for 20 years. Pursuant to Executive Order 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review), OMB proposed to revise the Circular to reflect new developments in economic and other scientific understanding. The 91-page revised draft of Circular A-4, along with a preamble, includes revised and expanded guidance on various aspects of regulatory analysis, such as scope of analysis, alternative regulatory approaches, developing benefit and cost estimates, distributional effects, treatment of uncertainty, and discount rates. This Regulatory Insight provides a section-by-section comparison between the 2023 draft and 2003 Circulars and a descriptive discussion about major changes in each section.
More coverage of the 'Modernizing Regulatory Review' actions from the RSC:
Public Interest Comments
Commentaries
Podcasts
Additional Resources
- Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993
- Executive Order 14094 of April 6, 2023
- Request for Comments on Guidance Implementing 12866 Meeting Request Provisions of EO 14094
- Request for Comments on Revisions to Circular A-4
- Request for Comments on Revisions to Circular A–94
- Request for Nominations of Experts to Peer-Review Draft Guidance on Conducting Analysis of Federal Regulations
- Susan E. Dudley for Regulation & Governance (July 2020): The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and the Durability of Regulatory Oversight in the United States