Ever Had a Problem with OSHA? Tell NAM Your Story Now!

Last week the Mercatus Center released an updated version of RegData, the center’s regulatory database, which attempts to measure the size and reach of federal rulemaking. (TheWall Street Journal has a video explaining the tool.) As the U.S. economy continues to struggle, the cost of U.S. regulations has drawn increased scrutiny and in an effort to keep a focus on this issue, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has asked MSCI to invite its members to tell NAM how regulations—compliance costs or unattainable standards, for example—affect their businesses. The effort is part of a NAM study that will attempt to determine the total cost of federal regulations on manufacturers and to tell individual stories about how overregulation affects the U.S. manufacturing industry. (Recently, another NAM study determined that just one pending regulation—a rule that would set new ozone standards for air quality—would cost the economy $270 billion annually.) MSCI members who are interested in participating are asked to email Rosario Palmieri at NAM and to copy MSCI’s Jonathan Kalkwarf on the email. The report will be released in September so MSCI members are encouraged to contact NAM within the next two weeks. NAM has promised to keep names and other identifiers anonymous if participants wish and has promised that no information will be used without final approval. These stories will be vital to MSCI and NAM’s ongoing advocacy efforts because they will make it easier to illustrate to policymakers the direct and costly impact regulations have on our members. MSCI members are also reminded that the organization will host a panel during its September 2014 Economic Summit to discuss the cost of U.S. regulations on manufacturers. More information on the 2014 Economic Summit, including information on regulation experts Susan Dudley, Christopher Guith and Toby Mack, is available on MSCI’s website.