ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Letter from the President .................2The Test’s the Thing ......................9CEI Events Update ....................10Regulatory Restraint, Full Throttle ........11Fly the (Greenhouse) Friendly Skies ......13Will Virus Fuel or Derail Climate Agenda? .13Pandemic Economy ...................14The Limitations of Flash Policy ............15COVID-19 Bill Must Not Make Broadband Charity a Tax .........................16Plastic Bag Bans Aren’t Helping the Fight against Coronavirus ...................17The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly ........18Media Mentions ......................19End Notes ...........................20
COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE VOL. 33, NO. 2 | SPRING 2020
FEATURED ARTICLES
BY MICHELLE MINTON
Liberty in the Time of Coronavirus
4
Repeal of #NeverNeeded Regulations Can Aid COVID-19 Response
BY RYAN YOUNG
I
t is still too early to tell when the worst of the coronavirus outbreak will be over. But it is not too early to tell that many regulations have gotten in the way of responding to the crisis. Federal and state regulations prevent doctors from practicing across state lines. Before an exemption was passed in March, doctors were forbidden from offering many health care services via telemedicine. Trade barriers mean medical equipment has longer shipping times and higher prices. Permits and other local regulations make it difficult for restaurants to offer takeout and delivery to people in quarantine. Many of these regulations were sus-pended when COVID-19’s severity became apparent. People also quickly figured out that if a regulation isn’t needed during the COVID-19 pandemic response, it was prob-ably never needed in the first place.That is why CEI launched the Twitter hashtag #NeverNeeded and a compan-ion website,
neverneeded.cei.org
. These resources allow people to easily find news and ideas for scrapping regulations. We also published a paper, “How Repeal of #NeverNeeded Regulations Can Help Responses to the COVID-19 Crisis,” to serve as a go-to guide for policy makers. Anyone can add their own ideas to the conversation—and a lot of people have. Coalition partners, including Americans for Tax Reform, the R Street Institute, the Mercatus Center, and the London-based Institute for Economic Affairs, have pitched in #NeverNeeded suggestions. Media outlets, from
The Boston Globe
to
Reason
, have covered it, and CEI scholars have promoted #NeverNeeded on national radio shows.In multiple states, residents have con-tacted governors. The state representative who authored California’s Assembly Bill 5, which puts restrictions on contractors and gig workers, heard from #NeverNeeded activists. Getting rid of never-needed regulations, not hasty “flash policy” stimulus, is the most effective policy Washington can adopt to help people stay healthy and safe during the coronavirus outbreak. A lot of regulations prevent people from helping each other—whether it’s driving a truck to restock grocery stores, making ventilators, crowdsourcing a loan to keep a local business afloat, or oper-ating a delivery service. Overregulation does more than slow growth during normal times. It makes the country less resilient against pandemics and other emergencies. There is no good reason to require waiting periods for factories to shift to making masks or ventilators or to require urgently needed coronavirus tests and treat-ments to go through the FDA’s multi-year
6
BY GREGORY CONKO
Regulation, Confusion, and the Irony of Emergency COVID-19 Testing
(continued on page 8)
12
BY JOHN BERLAU AND GIBSON KIRSCH
The SEC Wants to Be Your Nanny
CEI Responds to the COVID-19 Crisis
by Kent Lassman
I
n a moment of peril, the senses are sharpened. The same is true for a pro-liberty policy agenda. We’re forced to our homes, but let me assure you the Competitive Enterprise Institute is still standing. In fact, as the COVID-19 crisis has washed across America, the demand for CEI’s proposals has only increased.Scores of regulations have been relaxed, sus-pended, or repealed. Millions of people are living under lockdown. The policy apparatus available to the federal and state governments to combat the disease is primarily focused on the urgent demands of the here and now—emergency medical capac-ity, development and deployment of testing, the effects of massive social dislocation and historic unemployment, while many businesses continue to struggle. Precisely because of the extraordinary circumstances of the moment, CEI has gone to the ramparts. While we have moved to remote work these past few weeks, our policy experts have focused on the top priority issues in their portfolios in order to react to the new, pandemic-centric environment in a timely and relevant fashion. Simply put, the world has changed around us, and CEI is adapting swiftly and strategically. During the past year, CEI has made some impressive progress. We have achieved genuine policy change, which is success by any measure. From executive orders focused on regulatory dark matter to new, less stringent fuel economy rules, we have reasserted CEI’s role as a source of infor-mation, analysis, and commentary on the critical role of a functioning market economy in a healthy society. And CEI has been the locus of policy advo-cacy aimed at helping federal, state, and local officials—and private individuals—better respond to the crisis. From a dedicated website—
nevern-eeded.cei.org
—to publications, opinion articles, blog posts, and media appearances, we are advancing the #NeverNeeded campaign on all fronts.And, of course, our work on all other fronts—finance, labor and employment, energy, regulatory reform, consumer freedom, and more—continues. And taking the long view, a revitalized Center for Advancing Capitalism is working hard to maintain our focus on our North Star goals and share our vision with the world.Eventually, we will emerge from this dark period. We will see that the potential for dramatic change is a great now as it was when the New Deal and the Great Society radically expanded the acceptable scope of governmental activity. Over the horizon, the frozen economy will thaw and revive. As the nation adjusts and recovers, there will be plenty of opportunities for expanding the institutions of liberty to areas where government intervention has preempted their establishment and growth. CEI will be there throughout, to ensure the hinge of history swings, not toward stronger regulatory controls on the marketplace, but toward prosperity and liberty. What we do now, during this crucible of change, will affect the range of policies considered for decades. In the coming months, your continued support will prove crucial toward achieving that goal.
F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T
Publisher
Kent Lassman
Editor
Ivan OsorioThe CEI Planet is produced by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a pro-market public interest group dedicated to free enterprise and limited government.
CEI is a non-partisan, non-profit organization incorporated in the District of Columbia and is classified by the IRS as a 501 (c)(3) charity. CEI relies upon contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals for its support. Articles may be reprinted provided they are attributed to CEI.
Ph (202) 331-1010Fax (202) 331-0640info@cei.orgISSN#: 1086-3036
2
CEI.ORG COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE
Help Us Eliminate Never Needed Regulations
COMPETITIVE ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE CEI.ORG
3