Is (Safety) Deregulation Really Going to Happen?

Since January 20, 2025, there have been multiple actions by the US administration in apparent pursuit of deregulation, or the removal of rules promulgated by federal agencies. These include this executive order to remove 10 regulations for each new regulation issued, and this OMB notice soliciting ideas for deregulation. But is any of this going to happen in regard to rules for worker and public safety?

Executive administrations have a large amount of discretion to block most new rules proposed by federal agencies since the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the White House can review each new regulation and make a declaration that the new rule is too expensive or harms the national interest in some way. The US Congress can repeal regulations enacted in the last 60 days. Congress could also remove the authority of an agency to make certain kinds of rules. But the executive process for rescinding an existing regulation is more challenging.

The Administrative Procedure Act requires that the removal of rules follow the same process as the enactment of new rules. So, the same kind of scientific and economic evidence required to justify a rule banning a certain chemical or requiring measurements of radiation exposure for x-ray technicians would be required to justify the rule’s removal. There are certain cases where rules end up being more expensive than originally envisioned, and these could be valid candidates for possible review and revision, but the evidence could take years to collect, and the data would often not support complete removal of the rule, just a partial relaxation of one. This makes rule recissions unlikely to be completed, and unlikely to hold up under court review.