Yesterday, President Trump signed an Executive Order freezing any regulatory action pending his administration’s review. President Trump signed numerous Executive Actions within a few hours of taking the Presidential Oath. This Executive Order places a minimum of a sixty (60) day hold on the publishing of any new rules to the Federal Register and a hold on any rule that is in process and has not finalized.

In the Executive Order, President Trump stated that he does not want any rule being sent to the Office of the Federal Register (OFR) until a department or agency head appointed by President Trump has had an opportunity to review and approves the rule. Additionally, the President wants OFR to withdraw any rule that has been sent to OFR but not published. Lastly, the President wants to postpone the effective date for any rules that have been published to the Federal Register but not taken effect for “the purposes of reviewing any questions of fact, law, and policy that the rules may raise.”

As our clients are aware, there are several rules that have been published to the Federal Register that will significantly impact your organization. Specifically, the OSHA Emergency Response Rule and the recent HIPAA Security Rule To Strengthen the Cybersecurity of Electronic Protected Health Information. We do not know how this freeze will impact the future of these rules. It is possible that these rules will be modified in content, applicability, or be rescinded entirely.

We will continue to monitor the activity with the new Administration and will keep our clients informed. If you have any questions, please contact us at questions@wmklawgroup.com.