States Seen Open To Greater Use Of Cost-Benefit For Regulations In 2011

摘要

State legislatures could be open to considering greater "economic analysis" of environmental and other rules next year that put more emphasis on the costs and benefits of regulations, a move likely to win support from fiscal conservatives but draw concern from critics of cost-benefit who say it can be used to weaken rules. Following the Republicans' election campaign theme of fiscal responsibility and major gains at the state and federal levels in the midterm elections, there might be more support for regulatory review steps that can reduce the costs of rules, sources say. These sources say that although it is minimally used at the state level, Democrats and Republicans generally accept White House regulatory review of federal agencies' rulemakings.