OIRA and Regulatory Review OIRA

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs was created within the Office of Management and Budget by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 to oversee government information collection. Weeks after taking office, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order 12291 on February 17, 1981, requiring agencies to send major rules to OIRA with an analysis showing that benefits outweighed costs. President Bill Clinton replaced it with Executive Order 12866 on September 30, 1993, which remains the foundation of the system.

Under that order, agencies send significant regulatory actions, including rules with large economic effects, to OIRA, which generally has 90 days to review them, coordinate comments from other agencies, and negotiate changes before publication. Agencies must prepare a cost-benefit analysis for economically significant rules, and OIRA publishes the semiannual Unified Agenda of planned regulations. The OIRA administrator is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and the office's small staff of career analysts reviews hundreds of rules a year.

Traditionally independent regulatory agencies, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, were exempt from OIRA review, but an executive order of February 18, 2025, required them to submit significant rules as well, part of a broader effort to assert presidential control over those agencies. The 2025 orders also revoked a 2023 order that had updated how costs and benefits are calculated. Supporters say centralized review improves rules and holds agencies accountable to the President, while critics say it delays protective rules, gives industry a back channel, and politicizes expert decisions.