Public Participation

NB  Quality of Life Review ( Script)                                                                                                                               Vintage OIRA                                                                                                                                                           Library

Answer:  The issuance of Presidential regulatory principles, and the centralized review of draft regulations, has been an accepted part of regulatory development for 30 years in one form or another. This began with President Nixon’s “Quality of Life” program, and continued in the 1970s with President Ford’s requirement in Executive Orders 11821 and 11949 for agencies to prepare inflation/economic impact statements and with President Carter’s Executive Order 12044 on “Improving Government Regulations.” The OMB review process became more formalized in 1981 with President Reagan’s Executive Order 12291, which was in effect from 1981 to September 1993 (the Reagan and Bush Administrations and the first nine months of the Clinton Administration). In September 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12866, which retained the OMB review process in essentially the same form. The Executive Order 12866 process remains in effect today.