On Jan. 18, President George W. Bush issued amendments to Executive Order 12866 on Regulatory Planning and Review. The most notable of the changes will require federal agencies to: implement a stricter market failure criterion for assessing the need for regulation; require agencies to develop a summation of total costs and benefits each year for all proposed regulations; install a presidential appointee as agency Regulatory Policy Officer; and subject "guidance documents" to the same White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review process as regulations. Bush's amendments do not have the force of law but significantly change E.O. 12866, which figures prominently into the nation's regulatory process. The amendments will impact the way in which federal agencies go about creating rules and enforcing laws.

On January 18, President Bush issued amendments to Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, which further centralize regulatory power in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and shift it away from the federal agencies given this power by legislative enactments.

Several groups are appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on a secret Transportation Security Administration (TSA) regulation. The regulation requires airlines to check the identification of passengers. The Ninth Circuit held that, even though the rule is not publicly accessible, it does not violate the Constitution's protection of due process.

Less than two months after the Inspector General for the Environmental Protection Agency issued a report critical of the agency's commitment to environmental justice, EPA closes the doors of one of its regional offices for minority advocacy.