The Department of Health and Human Services issued a final rule – PDF* January 8 to further democratic values of accountability and transparency. Specifically, the Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely (SUNSET) rule requires the Department to assess its regulations every ten years to determine whether they are subject to review under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA), which requires regular review of significant regulations. If a given regulation is subject to the RFA, the Department must review the regulation every ten years to determine whether the regulation is still needed and whether it is having appropriate impacts. Regulations will expire if the Department does not assess and, if required, review them in a timely manner.
