Archive for May, 2014
New OMB Director Promises Fast Action on EPA Regulations
May 27th
Editor’s Note: In a new Politico article, Shaun Donovan, President’s pick to head OMB, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) parent organization, discussed his plans for acting on regulations.
From: Politico
Obama’s new regulatory czar
By: Edward-Isaac Dovere
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Donovan, the nominee to take over the Office of Management and Budget, won’t have a huge public profile, but will be key in shaping Obama’s legacy and advancing a progressive agenda through federal regulations.
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OECD Support for Centralized Regulatory Review
May 22nd
Editor’s Note: The Head of OECD’s Regulatory Policy Division delivered the presentationRegulatory Impact Analysis: An International Perspective” at a recent meeting in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia which is attached here. Below are three excerpts from the presentation.
From: Regulatory Impact Analysis: An International Perspective
By Nick Malyshev
RIA [Regulatory Impact Analysis] is seen as a useful tool in support of more efficient, effective, transparent and accountable policymaking
All countries, even those with many years experience with undertaking RIA and with very advanced RIA systems in place still experience problems with the quality and timeliness of RIA documentation.
Regulatory and Quasi-Regulatory Activity without OMB and Benefit-Cost Review
May 16th
From: Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy via Mercatus Center
This paper illustrates four types of regulatory and quasi-regulatory activities that are operating outside Office of Management and Budget and benefit-cost review: (1) agency issuance of quasi-regulatory documents such as memoranda, policy statements, and guidance documents; (2) agency approval of state regulatory policies under federal laws that authorize selective waiver of federal preemption of state regulation; (3) federal agency issuance of hazard determinations related to technologies, substances, and practices that impact the litigation and regulatory environment; and (4) federal agency decisions to enter into binding agreements with pro-litigants favoring certain regulatory outcomes, where settlements create nondiscretionary agency duties to initiate new rulemakings.
Why I don’t tell reporters everything I know: Cass Sunstein
May 15th
Editor’s Note: Professor Sunstein’s discussion of discretion below should read and asborbed by both reporters and officials.
From: The Oregonian
By Cass R. Sunstein
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which I attended last Saturday night, is an astonishing spectacle — a unique combination of journalists, government officials and celebrities. Amid the laughter and the conviviality, however, there is an uneasy undercurrent: Many journalists are disturbed that outside of an annual dinner, they cannot get a lot of access to those same officials.