US National Research Council to Determine Impact of Federal Regulations on Academia. (June 21, 2012)

The 279-page US Senate Labor-HHS (Health and Human Services) appropriations bill for the 2013 fiscal year includes a US$1 million item for the National Research Council to study the impact of federal regulations and reporting requirements on universities and colleges. The study is to assess the time and costs needed to comply with federal regulations and to make recommendations for "consolidating, streamlining, and eliminating redundant and burdensome Federal regulations and reporting requirements."

Assuming the item is included after the bill passes both houses of the US Congress and is signed by the president the NRC is to report back to Congress within a year of the act's enactment. Just how much red tape will be detailed by the National Academies and just what might be done about it could make entertaining reading.

Analysis of Federal Regulations and Reporting Requirements on Institutions of Higher Education.—The Committee directs $1,000,000 for the Secretary to enter into an agreement with the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study on the impacts of Federal regulations and reporting requirements on institutions of higher education as authorized under section 1106 of the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008. The study shall include information describing, by agency, the number of Federal regulations and reporting requirements affecting institutions of higher education, the estimated time required and costs to institutions of higher education (disaggregated by types of institutions) to comply with the regulations and reporting requirements affecting institutions of higher education, and recommendations for consolidating, streamlining, and eliminating redundant and burdensome Federal regulations and reporting requirements affecting institutions of higher education. The study shall be submitted to the Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, as well as the Committee on HELP and the Committee on Education and the Workforce not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this act.