OIRA@2050

From: Government Executive

By Charles S. Clark
Civil service experts generally give OMB’s Margaret Weichert good marks for her outreach to advance the Trump administration’s government reform efforts. Cameron Whitman Photography LLC

On Sept. 12, the Office of Management and Budget joined with the Mitre Corp. in hosting some 150 agency alumni, corporate specialists and academics at the White House for an off-the-record symposium on fixing what ails the federal workforce.

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Verkuil has hopes for bipartisan reform that addresses “regulatory capture” of agencies by industry and by contractors. “They give political contributions and stack the agencies,” he said. “The civil servants are getting beat up every day and have had their numbers reduced while the contractor regime marches on.”

From: Interesting Engineering

The battle for space in the American market for animal beef versus cell-based meat is heating up as both sides put pressure on the US government to intervene with regulatory solutions.

By  Mario L. Major

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In the letter, the authors make it clear that companies like Memphis Meats are merely seeking a shared place at the table, not planning a takeover. “Cell-based meat products are meat produced from animal cells in cell culture. They are an ‘and,’ not an ‘or,’ solution, and the latest in a long history of innovation in American agriculture,” read the letter.

From: Lawfare

By Stephanie Zable

After several months of back-and-forth, the Senate and House of Representatives agreed on a consensus version of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) on July 23. FIRRMA reforms the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) process currently used to evaluate and address national security-related concerns related to foreign investment into the United States. While originally introduced separately, the bill was ultimately incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2019. The final version of the NDAA emerged from conference on July 26 and was overwhelmingly approved by the House later that day and by the Senate on August 1. The president is expected to sign the NDAA into law shortly.

Editor’s Note: See CRE’s December 2007 letter to the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve System re: Establishing A UIGEA Restricted Transaction List and Process for Resolving UIGEA Status of Other Transactions and CRE’s September 2008 letter to the Federal Reserve re: Burden of Proposed Internet Gambling (UIGEA) Regulations on Financial Institutions.

From: The Regulatory Review

Eric G. Fikry

Despite a watershed ruling, the gaming industry must still contend with onerous and redundant state oversight.

With its decision in Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the U.S. Supreme Courtinvalidated the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), a federal statute that prohibited states from authorizing competitive sporting events. The decision allows states to determine whether to permit sports wagering within their borders.

Editor’s Note: Full implementation of the Data Access Act and the Data Quality Act would resolve the science transparency and quality concerns of all stakeholders. See, American Association for the Advancement of Science-Federal Focus Symposium on Data Access, CRE’s Emphasis on Data Access and Data Quality is Rooted in the Paperwork Reduction Act Amendments of 1995, and Update on the CRE Position on the EPA Silent Science Initiative. With respect to making US regulatory science processes to those in the EU, please see  The US Data Access Act is No Match to its Counterpart in the UK.

From: Science | POLICY FORUM/RESEARCH REGULATION

Editor’s Note: See also The Obama Administration’s Report on the Future of Artificial Intelligence.

From: Administrative Conference of the United States

This article was authored by Lauren Beadle, a student at American University Washington College of Law. The views expressed below are those of the author and do not represent the views of ACUS or the Federal Government.

From: Politico

By ANDREW HANNA

President Donald Trump moved to tighten control over the in-house judges that implement much of the federal government’s regulatory agenda — his latest step to consolidate political power throughout the sprawling bureaucracy.

An executive order signed Tuesday gives agency heads greater discretion over the selection of so-called administrative law judges. These judges, typically promoted out of the federal civil service, make legal rulings that drive regulatory actions across the federal government.

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From: Science

By Kelly Servick

COLLEGE PARK, MARYLAND—There may be a turf war on between two U.S. federal agencies over who will regulate the emerging industry of cultured meat, but you wouldn’t know it from the presentations by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) at a meeting here yesterday.

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Some expect that either Congress or the White House Office of Management and Budget will ultimately have to clarify which agency should step back as cultured meat products near the market—or whether the responsibility for different stages of its production could somehow be split between the two agencies. In the meantime, FDA is pressing ahead with its plans to regulate. Mayne said the agency’s science board will hold a meeting on the issue later this year.

From: Notice & Comment | A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Emily Bremer

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ACUS’s Federal Register notice summarizes each of the three adopted recommendations:

Recommendation 2018-1, Paperwork Reduction Act Efficiencies. This recommendation encourages collaboration between the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and federal agencies to maximize opportunities for making the information collection clearance process under the Paperwork Reduction Act more efficient, while still maintaining its integrity. The recommendation also encourages using generic clearances and common forms more frequently, providing more training to agencies, and improving several other aspects of the information-collection clearance process.

Editor’s Note: Cross-posted from Regulatory Cybersecurity/FISMA Focus.

From: Nextgov

By Joseph Marks, Senior Correspondent