Regulatory Reform: Changes Made to Agencies' Rules Are Not Always Clearly Documented.
Abstract
The number of federal regulations and their effect on the American economy have grown dramatically during the past 30 years. With that growth has come an increased concern about the manner in which those regulations are developed by federal agencies. Executive Order 12866 on "Regulatory Planning and Review," which was issued on September 30, 1993, describes the process by which proposed significant rules of regulatory agencies (other than those considered to be independent regulatory agencies) are to be reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget's (0MB) Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). One of the stated purposes of Executive Order 12866 is to make the federal rulemaking process "more accessible and open to the public." In furtherance of that objective, the order includes requirements to improve the "transparency" of the process. Specifically, the order requires that agencies identify for the public in a complete, clear, and simple manner the substantive changes that are made to rules while under review at 0IRA and, as a separate requirement, the changes that are made at the suggestion or recommendation of OIRA. The order also requires OIRA to make available to the public at the conclusion of the rulemaking process all documents exchanged between 0IRA and the agency during the review process.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 1998
- Accession Number
- ADA334067
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office