On May 19, President Trump signed the Executive Order, “Regulatory Relief to Support Economic Recovery,” which encourages federal agencies to review burdensome regulations in order to jumpstart the economy and get Americans back to work.
According to the order, “the heads of all agencies shall identify regulatory standards that may inhibit economic recovery and issue proposals to temporarily or permanently rescind, modify, waive, or exempt persons or entities from those requirements, and to consider exercising appropriate temporary enforcement discretion or appropriate temporary extensions of time regarding those requirements.” The order also directs agencies not to overenforce entities acting in good faith to comply with applicable statutory and regulatory standards.
Additionally, the order lists 10 principles of fairness in administrative enforcement and adjudication that all agencies should consider in revising their procedures and practices in certain statutory and regulatory programs, including:
- The government should bear the burden of proving an alleged violation of law; the subject of enforcement should not bear the burden of proving compliance.
- Administrative adjudicators should be independent of enforcement staff.
- Penalties should be proportionate, transparent and imposed in adherence to consistent standards and only as authorized by law.
- Liability should be imposed only for violations of statutes or duly issued regulations, after notice and an opportunity to respond.
- Agencies must be accountable for their administrative enforcement decisions.
More information on the executive order can be found in the Federal Register.