President Donald J. Trump's plan to roll back federal regulations is in play.

Trump signed an executive order Friday (Feb. 24) that establishes task forces within executive departments to identify regulations that might be ripe for repeal or modification under the new administration, and gives them 90 days to report back with recommendations.

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President Trump's Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Agenda calls for executive branch departments to identify existing regulations that might be eligible for repeal or modification.

The Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Agenda calls on executive agencies to designate one official as its Regulatory Reform Officer.

The RRO will work with other agency officials on finding regulations currently on the books that the administration might want to eliminate in order to comply with an earlier executive order that requires the elimination of two regulations for every new regulation put into place.

Trump first announced plans to roll back regulations in this fashion back in November.

Guidelines for Repeal

The order calls on the RROs and their task forces to concentrate on rooting out regulations that:

• Might be eliminating jobs or inhibiting job creation;
   
• Are outdated or unnecessary;
   
• Impose costs that exceed their benefits;
   
• “Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives”;
   
• Are inconsistent with section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 2001, which deals with the quality and objectivity of information disseminated by government entities; or
   
• Derive from past executive orders that have since been rescinded.

The order, as issued, affects all federal departments, but allows for a waiver for agencies that can prove they rarely issue regulations.

There are some 80,000 pages in the Federal Register, where all regulations are published, according to NPR. To actually repeal a rule, federal agencies must go through the notice and public-comment process just as they must to create a rule, the report said, citing expert Susan Dudley, who heads the Regulatory Studies Center at George Washington University.

Dudley told the news bureau that recently approved regulations may be the exception, as lawmakers might use the Congressional Review Act to repeal rules by a simple majority vote.

Regulations Affecting Coatings Pending

A number of new regulations that may affect the paints and coatings industry were put into place during the final year of the Obama administration.

For instance, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration approved new rules regarding electronic reporting, which also includes provisions related to workplace safety incentives. OSHA also put into place new rules on workplace exposure to respirable crystalline silica and beryllium, both of which could affect abrasive blasting operations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is gearing up to begin enforcement of changes to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as it governs generators of hazardous waste. The new regulations, which go into effect in April, could affect both coating manufacturers and field coating removal operations.

And some legislators have been working to find ways to circumvent the Fair Pay and Safe Workplaces Act, which was set to go into effect last fall but remains in legal limbo. That order would subject business receiving federal contracts of over $500,000 to increased scrutiny regarding past violations of labor, environmental and other rules.

Other countries have similar policies when it comes to regulations. NPR reports, "Canada and Britain both have policies that require old regulations be eliminated each time a new one is enacted."