Modernizing Regulatory Review

The order amends Executive Order 12866 to raise the threshold defining a "significant regulatory action" — the level at which proposed rules trigger mandatory OIRA review — from $100 million to $200 million in estimated annual economic effect, with the figure adjusted every three years by the OIRA Administrator for changes in GDP. It directs agencies to improve public participation in rulemaking through proactive outreach to underserved communities, labor organizations, program beneficiaries, and other affected parties. It also instructs the OIRA Administrator to modernize the notice-and-comment process, including by developing guidance on handling mass comments and AI-generated comments, and to reform procedures for outside-party meeting requests with OIRA reviewers.

Within one year, the OMB Director must issue revised guidance under Circular A-4 — the government's main regulatory-analysis framework — to incorporate distributive impacts and equity. The order does not itself create any enforceable legal right or benefit for any party, and all directives are subject to applicable law and appropriations.

All federal executive agencies subject to OIRA review, regulated businesses and industries whose proposed rules may now fall below the revised significance threshold, and members of the public — especially underserved communities — who participate in federal notice-and-comment rulemaking proceedings.

Fewer proposed rules will automatically trigger intensive White House review under the higher threshold, which could accelerate the pace of rulemaking across agencies. Revised Circular A-4 guidance will change how agencies calculate and weigh regulatory costs and benefits, including equity considerations, affecting the shape of regulations that reach the public.

OIRA administers the core changes: it adjusts the significance threshold every three years, develops guidance on modernizing public comment processes, and reforms meeting-request procedures for outside parties. Agencies must maintain logs of rule-petition requests and share them with OIRA on request. The OMB Director has a hard one-year deadline to revise Circular A-4 in consultation with the Council of Economic Advisers and relevant agencies. No new enforcement mechanism is created; compliance relies on existing OIRA oversight authority and the standard no-new-rights savings clause.