Regulatory Reform

Regulatory Reform

I believe in sensible, scale-appropriate regulations that protect the things we value – like the environment, public health, and safety – without stifling innovation or imposing excessive burdens on individuals and businesses.

Business owners and entrepreneurs in Maine regularly tell me that the single greatest obstacle to economic growth continues to be overly-burdensome regulations, but as thousands of new rules are proposed every year, Congress isn’t taking any serious steps to address the mountain of regulations that already exist. Because of this, reforming our regulatory processes and reducing overlapping or duplicative regulations is one of my top priorities.

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If you have your own story of how overlapping or overly burdensome regulations have harmed your business, please click below to help me best focus my reform efforts.



My work in this field includes:

- The Regulatory Improvement Act (S. 1390) - As one of my first pieces of original legislation, I introduced the Regulatory Improvement Act of 2013 with Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO). Our bill would create a Regulatory Improvement Commission to review outdated regulations with the goal of modifying, consolidating, or repealing regulations in order to reduce compliance costs, encourage growth and innovation, and improve competitiveness. Members of the bipartisan Commission would be appointed by Congressional leadership and the President, and the Commission would be tasked with first identifying a single sector or area of regulations for consideration. Upon an extensive would submit to Congress a report containing regulations in need or streamlining, consolidation, or repeal.

- The Regulatory Accountability Act (S. 1029)I am an original cosponsor of the Regulatory Accountability Act, a bill that aims to reform the process by which federal agencies analyze and formulate new regulations and guidance documents.

The Regulatory Accountability Act requires agencies to evaluate the costs and benefits of proposed regulations in order to choose the “least burdensome” approach that accomplishes a given policy goal. Additionally, the bill invites broader public participation and transparency to rulemaking by requiring agencies to disclose data used in their analyses. Finally, the bill requires an evidenced-based approach to rulemaking for federal agencies when it is expected that the new rule will cost greater than $1 billion annually. 

- The Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (S. 1756) – Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) and I introduced legislation that would free grocery stores and other covered food establishments from the regulatory burdens of a poorly interpreted menu-labeling provision within the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Specifically, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2013 would limit the scope of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement a chain restaurant menu labeling rule mandated by the new healthcare law.

The ACA calls for a national, uniform nutrition-disclosure standard for foodservice establishments, originally intended for restaurants. Regulations implementing this provision, however, also unexpectedly incorporated grocery and convenience stores under its jurisdiction. The rule would create rigid requirements that pose an unreasonable burden on many of these businesses by requiring them to provide calorie information for whole menu items, irrespective of the number of servings in the product delivered to customers. For example, certain pizza establishments would have to label their pizzas per whole pie rather than per slice. Additionally, grocery and convenience stores, including many in Maine, offer food bars that would be impacted by the rule.

Our bill would codify a less burdensome approach to menu-labeling by allowing covered establishments greater flexibility in providing calorie information. Further, the bill would largely exempt grocers and convenience stores from the FDA’s rules, provided that the majority of their revenue does not come from food prepared on-site.

- The SCORE Act - I am proud to cosponsor the Strengthening Congressional Oversight of Regulatory Actions for Efficiency (SCORE) Act, introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Susan Collins. The SCORE Act creates a division within the Congressional Budget Office that would perform regulatory analysis and provide Congress with a non-partisan account of the regulatory costs associated with proposed legislation.

-The Preventing Regulatory Overreach To Enhance Care Technology (PROTECT) Act.  Health information technology (health IT) is one of the most innovative and rapidly growing fields of technology in the country. The PROTECT Act gives clarity to the FDA’s overly broad regulatory process by focusing on products that pose a legitimate risk to human health. This more effective, risk-based framework boosts patient safety by prioritizing FDA’s attention to technologies that pose the greatest health risk. It also protects low-risk health IT from unnecessary regulatory burdens that stifle opportunities for job creation, innovation, and improved care. Notably, the legislation relieves categories of low-risk clinical and health software from the medical device tax.

-The Federal Permitting Improvement Act. I am a co-sponsor and strong advocate of the Federal Permitting Improvement Act, introduced by Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO). This bill would made significant strides towards improving our federal permitting process for major capital projects through better coordination and deadline-setting, enhanced transparency, and reduced litigation delays. Together, this will help ensure that federal permitting processes don’t act as a barriers to entry for those seeking to innovate and improve our nation’s infrastructure. The bill is limited to economically significant capital projects – based on the size of initial investment – across all sectors including energy production, electricity transmission, surface transportation, aviation, ports and waterways, water resource projects, broadband, pipelines, manufacturing.

Recent Events

George Washington University: On September 27, 2013, I gave a keynote speech at a conference hosted by George Washington University’s Regulatory Studies Center. The theme of the conference, exploring analytical and procedural approaches to improve the evaluation of regulations, was a great forum to discuss my take on regulatory reform and my work in the Senate. You can view my speech here.

Common Good/Regional Plan Association: On November 21, 2013, I delivered opening remarks at a forum hosted by Common Good and the Regional Plan Association that focused on the procedural impediments to rebuilding and expanding America’s public and private infrastructure. Watch my remarks here

Testimony before Homeland Security & Government Affairs Subcommittee: On March 11, 2014, I testified as a Republican witness before the Subcommittee on Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce about the burden of outdated federal regulations on American businesses and the need to streamline the federal permitting process for major capital projects. You can watch my testimony here.