Green group launches ad against regs reform

An environmental group launched an advertising campaign Monday to oppose a pair of bills meant to make it more difficult for federal agencies to write regulations.

Clean Air Moms Action is running the digital video ad in five states with closely watched or competitive Senate races next year: Missouri, Indiana, Montana, Florida and Virginia.

In the ad, car safety advocate Janette Fennell talks about the importance of a federal regulation that mandates car trunks to have internal release mechanisms.

The Regulatory Accountability Act and the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act would make it harder for similar regulations to be written, Fennell says.

“From car safety, to clean air and water, Congress is threatening these lifesaving standards,” she says.

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The House passed both bills in January, and a Senate committee passed them in May. The Senate could vote on the measures after its August recess, though at least eight Democrats would have to join all of the GOP in order to reach the 60-vote threshold to pass the bills.

They bills are part of a wide-ranging effort by congressional Republicans and the Trump administration to roll back what they see as costly, unnecessary regulations, and prevent future ones.

The Regulatory Accountability Act would require that federal agencies publish more information about the scientific underpinnings of their rules and would subject rules to a 10-year mandatory review cycle.

The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act, meanwhile, would require Congress to approve any new regulation with an estimated annual economic impact above $100 million.

Environmental groups, Democrats and other pro-regulatory advocates say the proposals would hamper regulators’ ability to protect the public and carry out their missions.

Clean Air Moms Action is a part of the Environmental Defense Action Fund, itself an affiliate of the Environmental Defense Fund.