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What’s on the Labor Department’s Regulatory Agenda?

Late last week, the White House released its fall 2015 Unified Agenda—the semi-annual report on regulations under development or review by each federal agency. As usual, and therefore of little surprise, this latest agenda spells delay for a laundry list of critical safeguards at several agencies.

According to CPR senior analyst James Goodwin’s review of the regulatory agendas for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and several other agencies, several new protections will be delayed anywhere from two months to over a year.

A look at the Department of Labor’s regulatory agenda also signals extensive delays for some long-anticipated worker protections. Here is the status of rules under development at DOL classified as “major” or “economically significant” rules:

Agency

Rule

Spring 2015

Fall 2015

DOL/OSHA

Combustible Dust

 

Pre-rulemaking: expected to initiate small business review panel by 02/2016

Pre-rulemaking: expected to initiate small business review panel by 08/2016

*6 month delay

DOL/OSHA

 

Preventing Backover Injuries and Fatalities

 

Long-Term Action: expected to initiate small business review panel by 06/2016

Pre-rulemaking: expected to initiate small business review panel 09/2016

*3 month delay

DOL/OSHA

 

Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems

Final: Final rule expected 8/2015

Final: Final rule expected 04/2016

*8 month delay

DOL/OSHA

Infectious Diseases

 

Long-Term Action: Proposed rule expected 12/2016

Long-Term Action: Proposed rule expected 12/2016

*no movement expected

DOL/OSHA

Injury and Illness Prevention Program

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

*no movement expected

DOL/OSHA

Update to the Hazard Communication Standard

 

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

*No movement expected

DOL/OSHA

Occupational Exposure to Beryllium

 

Proposal: Proposed rule expected 05/2015

Proposal: Analysis of comments on proposed rule expected 12/2015

*moving ahead

 

DOL/OSHA

Occupational Exposure to Crystalline Silica

Proposal: Post-Hearing Comment Review Period expected 07/2014

Final: Final rule expected 02/2016

*moving ahead

DOL/ETA

Temporary Non-Agricultural Employment of H-2B Aliens in the U.S.

 

Final: Comment period on interim final rule expected completion 06/29/2015

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

+ indefinite delay

DOL/ETA

Modernizing the Permanent Labor Certification Program

Proposal: Proposed rule expected 12/2015

Proposal: Proposed rule expected 04/2016

+ 4 month delay

DOL/ETA

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Proposal: Comment period on proposed rule expected to conclude 06/15/2015

Proposal: Analysis of comments on proposed rule expected 11/2015

+moving ahead

 

*statutory deadline for final rule is 01/18/2016

DOL/ETA

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act; Joint Rule with the U.S. Dep’t of Education...

Proposal: Comment period on proposed rule expected to conclude 06/15/2015

Proposal: Analysis of comments on proposed rule expected 11/2015

+moving ahead

 

*statutory deadline for final rule is 01/18/2016

DOL/EBSA

Improved Fee Disclosure for Welfare Plans

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

Long-Term Action: Next action undetermined

+no movement expected

DOL/EBSA

Conflict of Interest Rule- Investment Advice

Proposal: Comment period on second proposed rule expected to end 07/06/2015

Proposal: Analysis of comments on proposed rule expected 12/2015

+moving ahead

DOL/EBSA

Final Rules under the Affordable Care Act for Grandfathered Plans…

No entry in Spring Agenda

Final: Final rule expected 11/2015

+moving ahead

DOL/WHD

Establishing Paid Sick Leave for Contractors

 

No entry in Spring Agenda

Proposal: Proposed rule expected 02/2016

+moving ahead

 

*statutory deadline for final rule is 09/30/2016

DOL/WHD

Defining and Delimiting the Exemptions for Executive, Administrative, Professional, Outside Sales, and Computer Employees

Proposal: Proposed rule expected 06/2015

Final: Final rule expected 07/2016

+moving ahead

 

 

Showing 2,817 results

Katie Tracy | November 23, 2015

What’s on the Labor Department’s Regulatory Agenda?

Late last week, the White House released its fall 2015 Unified Agenda—the semi-annual report on regulations under development or review by each federal agency. As usual, and therefore of little surprise, this latest agenda spells delay for a laundry list of critical safeguards at several agencies. According to CPR senior analyst James Goodwin’s review of the regulatory […]

James Goodwin | November 20, 2015

Fall 2015 Regulatory Agenda is Out; Clock is Ticking

Opponents of safeguards are fond of decrying what they claim is a regulatory system out of control, churning out rules at a break-neck pace.  It’s not difficult to refute  this claim when the president releases the twice-annual regulatory agenda, which spells out all the active rulemakings that are currently pending and the expected timetables for […]

Evan Isaacson | November 18, 2015

Confusion, Frustration as Maryland High Court Hears Stormwater Permits Case

Last week the Maryland Court of Appeals heard several hours of oral argument in back to back (to back) cases regarding whether five different municipal stormwater (“MS4”) permits issued by the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) complied with the federal Clean Water Act and state water pollution laws. Although divided into separate cases due […]

Matthew Freeman | November 17, 2015

CPR’s Joel Mintz on the Trans-Pacific Partnership

In an op-ed for The Hill, CPR Member Scholar Joel Mintz takes a look at the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), and concludes that it’s insufficiently protective of the environment, the Administration’s assertions notwithstanding. In his piece, he notes that the TPP “contains no mention whatsoever of what is widely seen as the most pressing threat to the global […]

Katie Tracy | November 10, 2015

Chickens Aren’t the Only Ones Suffering at the Slaughterhouse

A startling new report by Oxfam America reveals just how dangerous it is to work inside a poultry processing plant. The report is packed full of alarming statistics and heart-breaking personal stories from brave workers, exposing an industry that fails to protect workers from well-known hazards and that discourages workers from reporting injuries when they […]

Matthew Freeman | November 9, 2015

Shallow, Shallower, Shallowest

Fostering informed debate about sound regulatory policy to protect health, safety, and the environment is one of the Center for Progressive Reform’s fundamental objectives. Presidential candidates, on the other hand, like to focus on the issues that get them elected, not necessarily the issues that are important. Unfortunately, the media is increasingly complicit in avoiding […]

Daniel Farber | November 4, 2015

Law Schools Doing Good

How Law Schools Serve the Public Most people probably think of law schools, when they think of them at all, as places that train future lawyers.  That’s true, and it’s important, but law schools do a lot more.  Faculty scholarship makes a difference — law review articles laid the foundation for many of the ideas now guiding […]

| October 27, 2015

EPA Cracks Down on Stormwater Pollutants in Rhode Island

Here in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, polluted runoff from impervious surfaces, such as roofs, driveways, parking lots, and a vast network of roads, is a huge problem.  In fact, while pollution from wastewater treatment plants has decreased significantly since EPA established the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) several years ago, and while overall […]

Daniel Farber | October 22, 2015

Addressing Externalities: A Modest Proposal

How to make health and safety a personal priority for industry officials. According to economists, firms have little reason to take into account the cost of externalities — that is to say, the harms their activities may impose on others. The traditional solutions are damage remedies or taxes to transfer the financial cost to the […]