I have spent my career working in government specifically dealing with regulations. It is mind boggling that government expects or even believes that nonprofits, units of local government, and contractors can follow all the federal and state regulations. There are program regulations, cross cutting or overarching regulations, and financial regulations at both the federal and state level.
The most challenging regulation I’ve dealt with recently has been US HUD”s environmental review process. Every day is a new day for what one must document, what you write must be specific, and while they can’t provide you with an example for some documentation they want, when you submit your documentation they can certainly tell you what is not right. Lucky for them, they have a whole department dedicated to this one regulation while the rest of the world has to figure it out even for a one time project. Seems it would be much more cost effective for HUD’s experienced staff to take care of the paper work, especially since its so important. Has anyone else out there experienced similar situations?
Given my recent experience and career working in and around government, I came across the below report and wanted to share it with the world.
Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute; From press release:
Federal regulations cost a whopping $1.187 trillion last year in compliance burdens on Americans. That’s the finding of a new report, Ten Thousand Commandments: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State, from the Competitive Enterprise Institute that examines the costs imposed by federal regulations.
“Trillion-dollar deficits and regulatory costs in the trillions are both unsettling new developments for America,” said report author, Clyde Wayne Crews, CEI Vice President for Policy. “It is sobering to note how both dwarf the initial $150 billion ‘stimulus package’ of early 2008.”
The costs of federal regulations often exceed the benefits, yet receive little official scrutiny from Congress. The report urges Congress to step up and take responsibility as lawmakers to review and roll back economically harmful regulations. “Rolling back regulations would constitute the deregulatory stimulus that the U.S. economy needs,” said Crews.
(click here for full report: http://cei.org/issue-analysis/2010/04/15/ten-thousand-commandments-2010)