Federal agencies released updated regulatory agendas on Tuesday, May 27, which describe rulemakings under review, anticipated actions, and progress toward completing new standards. These agendas -- which are updated every spring and fall -- provide an important window into the administration's regulatory priorities and objectives, even though they are frequently inaccurate in their predictions. In January, OMB Watch examined the agendas of three agencies -- the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration -- to see what has changed during the Bush administration. Here, we update that data and add new information about the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

• NHTSA Summary. OMB Watch summarizes the changes in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's regulatory agenda over the course of the Bush administration. In January, we provided agenda summaries for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

• Tracking Charts. To track how agency agendas have changed, OMB Watch has put together a single document, compiling information on each agenda item listed from Fall 2000 to Spring 2003, for the following agencies:
  • National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (within Dept. of Transportation)
  • Food and Drug Administration (within Health and Human Services)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (within the Dept. of Labor);
  • Environmental Protection Agency, with further breakdowns by issue:
    • General
    • Clean Air Act
    • Atomic Energy Act
    • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act
    • Toxic Substances Control Act
    • Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act
    • Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
    • Oil Pollution Act and Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
    • Clean Water Act
    • Safe Drinking Water Act and the Shore Protection Act

• Breakdown Tables. These tables provide data on rulemakings added to or withdrawn from agency agendas under the Bush administration, covering NHTSA, EPA, FDA, and OSHA.

• About the Data. Here we explain the terms and data collection methods used by OMB Watch in compiling information from agency regulatory agendas.
• Current and past agendas. Agency agendas can be viewed through the Federal Register or the Center for Intelligent Information Retrieval. Unfortunately, these web sites do not provide tracking charts, as OMB Watch has provided, to see how the agendas are altered over time.