We have seen regulations rain down from the executive branch on the Affordable Care Act which, as of this writing, has undergone 27 executive changes to the original “Act”. The President has even boasted that he has a pen and a telephone and he would not hesitate to use the power of the Presidency to effect laws he wants enacted. Other presidents have primarily used executive action to fine tune laws that Congress had passed. President Obama is using it to make new regulations from whole cloth.

  We are now seeing this in OSHA. As background, OSHA has been responsible since 1971 for enforcing federal workplace safety and health standards. Congress has adopted statutory language since 1978 that prevents OSHA from inspecting farms with 10 or fewer employees. In 2011, the Obama administration without any public notice or review, issued new guidelines that redefined “farming operations” in order to allow OSHA inspections on family farms.

  In February 2014, pursuant to hearings announced by committee Republicans, OSHA announced that it was backing down and would work with the Department of Agriculture to develop appropriate policies. To be clear, OSHA farm policies do not interest me. The underhanded tactics employed by the Obama administration to expand OSHA are what pique my interest.

  Contrary to what many in the funeral industry think, it is extremely difficult to get Congress to move on OSHA regulations. The norm is for proposed OSHA regulations to be held in limbo for years. When a chemical classification is changed as we recently saw with formaldehyde, then OSHA acts. They rarely act without scientific support from an outside agency. This administration is the exception.

  Newly appointed senior officials of the Department of Labor and OSHA have been open about their stated activists’ agenda. They announced this administration would be the one willing to go after the 800 pound gorilla (code for ergonomics) and lower chemical thresholds. The only thing that has derailed that is Republican control of the house. Is there evidence that the Obama administration might attempt to enact these laws through executive action?

  There is tons of it. You can lay odds that the last six months of the Obama administration will rain regulations from healthcare, OSHA, financial and other institutions that form the core of “central planning”.

  Executive action short changes the normal bureaucratic process. Some of you might think that is a good thing. I would opine that it is not. It is far better for chemical thresholds be based on scientific evidence than on the actions of a temporary political majority. The last act President Clinton took was to implement a standard on ergonomics. The first business the new Republican majority undertook was to abolish that same “Act”. We may be in for a bit of déjà vu.