Competitive Enterprise Institute

06/01/2026

The SEC has proposed rescinding its Biden-era climate disclosure mandate, citing concerns over statutory authority and regulatory overreach. CEI Staff highlight why the move could reduce compliance costs and refocus the agency on investor protection and capital formation.

The Securities and Exchange Commission today proposed rescinding the costly, Biden-era rules mandating that companies provide climate-related information in registration statements and annual reports. The SEC cited a return to the agency's core mandate ...

06/01/2026

If policymakers are serious about transportation safety, they should follow the data. Rail remains far safer than trucking for freight movement, yet the Railway Safety Act risks driving cargo away from rail and onto highways through unnecessary mandates.

More than 36,000 Americans died on US roads in 2025. Fewer than 1,000 died on the rail system. Yet while highway fatalities rarely attract sustained attention, a single freight-train derailment can dominate national headlines for weeks. The 2023 East Pa...

05/29/2026

A growing patchwork of state net neutrality and data privacy laws is placing inconsistent and often conflicting compliance burdens on internet service providers. New analysis from CEI's DJ Hatch examines how these overlapping state regulatory regimes are driving up costs, complicating operations, and creating nationwide spillover effects far beyond the states imposing the rules.
https://cei.org/blog/the-inconsistent-burdens-of-the-state-regulatory-patchworks-affecting-isps/

05/29/2026

More states are restricting or banning noncompete agreements, with Tennessee and Washington among the latest to act. New analysis from CEI's Sean Higgins explores the growing patchwork of state laws, the debate over worker mobility and business investment, and what recent evidence suggests about entrepreneurship and innovation.

At least 15 states have enacted significant restrictions on noncompete agreements, ranging from minimum income thresholds to outright bans. Eight states have passed restrictions in the last five years. The prohibitions are mainly found in Democrat-leani...

05/28/2026

CEI’s DJ Hatch examines how conflicting state regulations on net neutrality and data privacy are creating overlapping compliance burdens for internet service providers. While some state laws effectively impose nationwide standards, others force ISPs to tailor operations state-by-state, increasing costs and complexity that ultimately flow down to consumers.
https://cei.org/blog/the-inconsistent-burdens-of-the-state-regulatory-patchworks-affecting-isps/

05/28/2026

Blocking Spirit Airlines' merger with JetBlue was touted as a victory for consumers. Spirit has since filed for bankruptcy. CEI's Jessica Melugin explains why denying companies a strategic exit doesn't always protect competition. It often guarantees its end.

Overzealous antitrust enforcement doesn't protect competition. It leaves behind a graveyard of businesses that were denied the right to survive.

05/28/2026

CEI led a coalition of 28 free market organizations urging Senate Republicans to pass the GOOD Act and IQAA, two House-approved reforms aimed at increasing transparency and accountability in federal regulation. The bills would require public access to agency guidance documents and stronger disclosure standards for the data behind regulatory decisions.
https://cei.org/news_releases/cei-leads-coalition-letter-urging-senate-action-on-regulatory-reform-bills/

05/27/2026

CEI’s Clyde Wayne Crews argues Congress should stop treating regulation as a purely technical problem and start confronting the deeper issue of political failure. His latest piece proposes an “Office of Political Failure Analysis” focused on challenging administrative expansion and identifying ways to unwind federal intervention.

For decades, reformers have proposed some version of a Congressional Office of Regulatory Analysis (CORA), a congressional counterpart to the regulatory oversight apparatus housed within the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) since Ronald...

05/27/2026

CEI’s Steve Swedberg argues the Fed’s biggest problems stem from too much discretion, too much market intervention, and too much mission creep. His latest piece examines what reform under Chair Kevin Warsh could look like.

New Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh should focus on three dimensions of reform: how the Fed makes decisions, the size of its market footprint, and the scope of its institutional responsibilities. Rules-based policy One of the Fed's biggest problems is...

05/26/2026

The Railway Safety Act is moving through Congress with support from the Trump administration. CEI staff argue the bill's two-person crew mandate would increase costs and slow rail modernization without delivering meaningful safety improvements.

The misleadingly named Railway Safety Act pushed by the Trump administration was inserted in the Build America 250 Act today and passed out of the House transportation committee. It imposes new government mandates without improving rail safety, as CEI e...