Popular Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Videos
Apr 18th
Editor’s Note: An OIRA-related YouTube channel may be found here. Below is a selection of the available videos.
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What is the Office on Information and Regulatory Affairs? | The Young Turks |
3:55
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Michael Fitzpatrick – The Obama Administration and Public Protections | OMBWatch |
5:07
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“Unfunded Mandates, Regulatory Burdens and the Role of OIRA” | oversightandreform |
1:25:53
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Goodlatte Opening Statement at OIRA Hearing | Bob Goodlatte |
5:07
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Advise the Advisor: Cass Sunstein | The White House |
1:34
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OIRA Makes Much-Needed Improvements to Online Meetings Database
Apr 14th
From: Center for Effective Government
by Katie Weatherford
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), within the White House Office of Management and Budget, recently updated its online database for disclosing meetings with non-government officials, such as lobbyists, trade associations, public interest groups, and other private stakeholders.
This updated database is a welcome improvement over the older, far less useful website for accessing meeting information. Under the older system, users could not search or sort through the meeting logs; instead, the meetings were listed chronologically by agency and sub-agency, and the meeting descriptions were often vague and inconsistent, making it difficult to conduct a thorough search. The new and improved database makes it much easier for users to access meeting information by allowing them to search for a meeting by date, regulatory identifier number, agency or sub-agency, and stage of rulemaking.
Centralized Review of Regulations: Cornerstone of the Regulatory State
Apr 7th
Editor’s Note: The following article originally appeared on the Americans for Safe Access website, here. A pdf is available here.
Opening Ceremony
We are proud to announce that Jim Tozzi as our Unity 2014 Opening Ceremony Speaker
Jim Tozzi worked for five consecutive Presidential Administrations including service as the senior career regulatory policy official at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Dr.Tozzi was instrumental in establishing a primary cornerstone of the regulatory state–the centralized review of regulations by the White House. He is also the father of the Data Quality Act. Dr.Tozzi has been appointed to the Administrative Conference of the US; the federal agency responsible for overseeing the federal regulatory process.
Obama’s Regulatory Chief: Businesses Will Always Criticize Us
Apr 1st
From: Government Executive
Charles S. Clark, Senior Correspondent
Despite the Obama administration’s vow to apply “common sense” safeguards against agency rules that are too burdensome, the business community “will always be critical of regulations when there is a cost,” the head of the White House regulatory office said on Monday.
Howard Shelanski, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, told an audience of sometimes-skeptical progressives at the headquarters of Public Citizen that “President Obama clearly wants to help the environment and protect health, safety and welfare, while consulting with business.”
Public Citizen to Host Symposium With Howard Shelanski, Head White House Regulatory Official
Mar 28th
From: Public Citizen
WHAT: A symposium with Howard Shelanski, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) since June 2013. A small but powerful division of the Office of Management and Budget, OIRA plays a crucial role in vetting draft regulations proposed by various federal agencies, including a wide array of key public health and safety standards.
WHEN: 12-1 p.m. EDT, Mon., March 31
WHERE: Public Citizen, 1600 20th St. N.W., Washington, D.C. (at 20th and Q Sts., N.W.)
Reeder recognized for role in launching Fed 100
Mar 26th
From: FCW
Posted by Troy K. Schneider
FCW’s 25th Federal 100 gala included one additional award that was long overdue. Frank Reeder, a 25-year Office of Management and Budget official who has also shaped federal IT from the legislative branch and various non-governmental organizations, was honored for his role in creating the Fed 100.
Reeder, who in the late 1980s was head of the information policy branch at OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, approached FCW’s editors about finding a way to shine a light on the good things happening in government. The result — with its community-driven nomination process, blue-ribbon judging panel, and stand-up comic instead of drawn-out speeches — was the Federal 100 awards that continue to this day.
Garbage in, garbage out? Some micro sources of macro errors
Mar 24th
Editor’s Note: The Journal of Institutional Economics article by Cass R. Sunstein and Reid Hastie found here provides a theoretical basis for understanding the importance of independent review of planned federal regulations.
OMB green lights FDA eye-tracking studies on labels
Mar 20th
From: Politico
By TARINI PARTI
With Jason Huffman and Helena Bottemiller Evich
The White House Office of Management and Budget has cleared the way for FDA to conduct experimental studies to gain a better understanding of how consumers eyes’ read food packages, including the Nutrition Facts panel, according to a Monday Federal Register notice.
The approval comes eight months after the agency asked OMB for permission and three weeks after first lady Michelle Obama unveiled two proposed re-designs for the Nutrition Facts panel at the White House.
OIRA reducing number of extended reviews of rules, Shelanski says
Mar 13th
From: FierceGovernment
The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is working toward faster review of regulations and improved technology to support the process, head rulemaker Howard Shelanski told a Senate panel Tuesday.
OIRA has already reduced the number of rules that have been under review for more than 200 days and the number of rules under review for more than 90 days is considerably down, Shelanski said at a March 11 hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee subcommittee on the efficiency and effectiveness of federal programs and the federal workforce.
Avoiding the cost of needless fear
Mar 10th
From: The Boston Globe/Opinion
Obama’s former regulatory czar explains how to avoid bad rules
By Cass Sunstein
It isn’t easy to love cost-benefit analysis. When the Department of Transportation compares the monetary benefits of a new vehicle safety requirement with the monetary costs, or when the Environmental Protection Agency does the same for air pollution controls, we don’t hear sustained applause.