Cass Sunstein on new directions in regulatory policy
Apr 16th
From: Harvard Law School
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
Apr 10th
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
Apr 9th
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
Apr 5th
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.
OMB Information Request: Federal Participation in Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities
Mar 29th
From: Federal Register
SUMMARY: The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) invites interested parties to provide input on current issues regarding Federal agencies’ standards and conformity assessment related activities. Input is being sought to inform OMB’s consideration of whether and how to supplement Circular A-119 (Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards and in Conformity Assessment Activities). In addition, OMB is announcing a public workshop at the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on May 15, 2012. A complementary NIST workshop, “Conformity Assessment: Approaches and Best Practices,” will take place on April 11, 2012 to seek input from individuals on the planned update of Guidance on Federal Conformity Assessment Activities, issued by NIST in 2000. The NIST workshop was announced separately by NIST at http://www.nist.gov/director/sco/ca-workshop-2012.cfm (see also 77 FR 15719; March 16, 2012).
Chicago Tribune OpEd by OIRA Administrator Sunstein
Mar 23rd
Editor’s Note: The following Opinion article by Cass R. Sunstein appeared in the Chicago Tribune.
Why regulations are good — again
In “Moneyball,” author Michael Lewis celebrates the success of Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland Athletics, who worked with Paul DePodesta, his statistics-obsessed colleague, to bring the cash-starved Athletics into the top tier of baseball teams. His secret was to jettison the long-standing dogmas and intuitions of old baseball scouts and to use statistical data instead.
Hearing on: the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Federal Regulations and Regulatory Reform under the Obama Administration
Mar 22nd
Editor’s Note: Attached below are the written statements from Chairman Smith and the witnesses at the March 21, 2012 hearing by the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law.
Statement of Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Federal Regulations and Regulatory Reform under the Obama Administration
Mar 21st
From: Bastiat Institute
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
Thank you for inviting me to testify today. My name is Richard Williams. I am an economist and the Director of Policy Studies at the Mercatus Center, a 501(c)(3) research, educational, and outreach organization affiliated with George Mason University.[1] For more than three decades, I have worked on rulemaking and regulatory analysis, first as an analyst at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), then as a supervisor of all social science analyses at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. I also worked for a short time at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviewing rules from other agencies.
Smarter Regulation: Reducing Cumulative Burdens
Mar 20th
From: The Office of Management and Budget
by Cass Sunstein
The Obama Administration has adopted a number of initiatives to promote smart, cost-justified regulation. On January 18, 2011, the President ordered an unprecedented government-review of existing rules. After a period of public comment, over two dozen agencies released ambitious reform plans, outlining hundreds of cost-saving reforms. A small fraction of those reforms, already finalized or formally proposed to the public, will save more than $10 billion over the next five years.
House Judiciary Committee Hearing on OIRA
Mar 19th
From: United State House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary
| Hearing on: the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Federal Regulations and Regulatory Reform under the Obama AdministrationWednesday 3/21/2012 – 1:30 p.m.
2141 Rayburn House Office Building Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law By Direction of the Chairman |