Archive for April, 2012

Readout of Meeting on Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Natural Gas

From: The White House

For Immediate Release
April 13, 2012
 

Readout of Meeting on Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Natural Gas

Cass Sunstein on new directions in regulatory policy

From: Harvard Law School

Cass Sunstein

Cass R. Sunstein ’78

April 12, 2012

Here’s the scorecard: Bush: $3.4 billion. Clinton: $14 billion. Obama: $91.3 billion.

These numbers represent the net monetary benefits of final, federal agency regulations issued through the third fiscal year of each of these administrations. They were presented to HLS students and faculty on March 26 by Cass R. Sunstein, former Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law and current administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a department within the White House’s Office of Management and Budget. As administrator, Sunstein oversees the federal government’s entire regulatory process. He was on campus to discuss “New Directions in Regulatory Policy.”

Celebrating the Release of Open Government Plans 2.0

From: The White House/Open Government Initiative

Posted by Cass R. Sunstein and Chris Vein

We’ve come a long way since the President signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government on his first full day in office. One highlight of the Open Government Initiative has been the release of agency Open Government Plans. These plans have served as roadmaps for agencies working to expand opportunities for citizen participation, make data more available and transparent, and increase collaborative decision-making.

The Indispensable Role of Centralized Regulatory Review and Cost-Benefit Analysis

Editor’s Note:  The following article from India’s leading English language daily business newspaper discusses the need for the government to “empower a super-charged body to review proposed rules and regulations” to ensure that and cites OIRA as an exemplar. 

At a time when questions are raised in the US about the need for strong centralized review of regulations and rigorous cost-benefit analysis, we can learn from the experience of industrial countries that lack centralized about the consequences of undersupervised regulatory power.  India should also consider learning from the United Kingdom’s experience with centralized regulatory review. 

From: Business Standard (India)

In cutting red tape, White House czar wields a scalpel

From: The Chicago Maroon

Cass Sustein, an influential legal scholar and the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, discussed efficient policy at the Law School yesterday afternoon.

by Gio Wrobel

Returning to the building where he used to teach, Cass Sunstein explained his approach to developing cost-effective regulatory policies in a packed lecture hall at the Law School yesterday afternoon.

Sunstein, one of the most influential legal scholars of the 20th century, currently serves as the administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), where he oversees the efficiency of government agencies.