Regulatory Transactions

From: RegWatch/The Hill’s Regulation Blog

By Megan R. Wilson

Lobbyists are lining up to meet with Obama administration officials about rules that would require medical companies to disclose financial relationships with doctors, according to records released by the White House.

The rules set forth by the Affordable Care Act reached the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in November — way behind schedule set by Congress. Interest groups and Congress have since called for the administration to speed the process along. OIRA has up to 90 days to conduct a review, giving it until Feb. 27.

From:  Healthwatch/The Hill’s Healthcare blog

By Sam Baker

The White House budget office is reviewing new rules to implement benefit requirements in President Obama’s signature healthcare law.

The regulation could be issued this month — a review from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is typically one of the last steps before regulations are published.

The rules recently submitted to OMB deal with exemptions from the rules for “minimum essential coverage” — the standards that coverage has to meet to satisfy the healthcare law’s individual mandate, which requires most taxpayers to either buy health insurance or pay a penalty.

From: Environmental Protection

I would expect some action on ozone, some forward progress to happen on ozone, in the coming year,” says Christopher Ahlers, a fellow at the Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic who is teaching an elective course on air pollution law and policy this semester.

By Jerry Laws

From: JD Supra Law News

From: FederalNewsRadio.com 1500AM

By Michael O’Connell

On Christmas Eve, The White House released the Current Regulatory Plan and the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, a compilation of agencies’ plans for new regulations.

But the document has stirred controversy for a number of reasons, not least because it was published nine months late. Republican lawmakers have accused the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of trying to hide those plans from the public.