CTA Hails Executive Order Creating Task Forces to Eye ‘Burdensome’ Regulations

CTA hailed President Donald Trump’s Friday executive order directing each federal agency to create a “regulatory reform task force” to evaluate regulations for possible “repeal, replacement, or modification.” Each task force “at a minimum” will try to identify regulations that “inhibit job creation,” are obsolete, unnecessary or ineffective, or “impose costs that exceed benefits,” the order said. It urges the task forces, as part of their evaluations, to “seek input” from entities that are “significantly affected” by federal rules, including state and local governments, consumers, small businesses and trade associations. That the task force “process” calls for getting such “feedback from stakeholders” should help it “distinguish between regulations we need for national harmonization versus the ones that are overly burdensome, crushing innovation and hampering startups,” said CTA President Gary Shapiro in a Monday statement. Tech startups “are the very first to feel the consequences of unnecessary regulations that ultimately stifle innovation and prevent opportunities for job growth here in the United States,” Shapiro said. “With two dozen federal agencies and more than 30 congressional committees covering IoT devices and tens of thousands of costly regulations, we are well overdue for a thorough examination of unnecessary, duplicitous and ineffective federal rules and regulations.” In the modern tech economy, "one-size-fits-all regulations spawn numerous unintended consequences that could stifle and suffocate our new economy," Shapiro said. "It’s also important to recognize that in some cases, non-regulatory, market-oriented solutions will avoid the costs and burdens of traditional regulation and deliver results faster."