President Donald Trump is making good on his promise to rollback federal regulations with a new Executive Order issued on Monday that could have significant consequences for all future rule-makings from government agencies, including the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
In a “Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs,” Trump orders that for every one new regulation issued by a federal agency, at least two prior regulations must be “identified for elimination.”
“It is the policy of the executive branch to be prudent and financially responsible in the expenditure of funds, from both public and private sources,” Trump states in the Executive Order. “In addition to the management of the direct expenditure of taxpayer dollars through the budgeting process, it is essential to manage the costs associated with the governmental imposition of private expenditures required to comply with Federal regulations.”
For fiscal year 2017, which is already in progress, Trump orders that the heads of all agencies are directed that the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, to be finalized this year shall be no greater than zero, unless otherwise required by law.
The Executive Order does not include regulations issued with respect to military, national security, or foreign affairs functions of the United States. Barring these exceptions, the Order makes a blanket mention of applying to “all agencies,” which would include HUD.
But right now, a HUD spokesman tells RMD it is still too early to tell what might become of regulations the agency currently has in the pipeline, such as the long-awaited Final Rule for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program slated to take effect September 19, 2017, which falls within fiscal year 2017.
This final rule codifies several significant changes to the HECM program that have been previously implemented in recent years, but also makes additional regulatory changes to the program, including new origination and servicing policies.
Written by Jason Oliva
