HOME

ABOUT US

OUR ISSUES

Federal Budget

Information & Access

Nonprofit Advocacy


PRESS ROOM

ACTION CENTER

PUBLICATIONS

THE WATCHER

OUR BLOGS


SIGN UP

Receive news, updates, and alerts!

DONATE

Help support our work


OTHER SITES

FedSpending.org

RTK NET

NPAction

Working Group on Community Right-to-Know

Citizens for Sensible Safeguards

Open the Government

OMB Watch Logo

"[P]eople acting in a group can accomplish things which no individual acting alone could even hope to bring about." - FDR

Home :  Regulatory Policy :  RegWatch : 
RegWatch:     

News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room

 R    E    G    •    W    A    T    C    H 


Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Open-Gov Questions Candidates are Afraid We'll Ask

Elections are the time when politicians pay the most attention to people and issues, and therefore the best time to ask them questions about how they plan to govern. OMB Watch wants your help in figuring out the best questions on government transparency that can be put to the candidates. Take just a few minutes to answer our survey and vote on your five favorite questions on the issue of government transparency and openness. We will then share the top questions with the news media and other organizations that have direct contact with candidates.

Government openness affects every issue from budget and taxes, to the regulatory process, to non-profit advocacy. The range of questions tries to reflect this breadth so check them and see which are most important to you.

Take the Open Government: What We Need To Know Survey today.





Posted by Adam Hughes, 01:58:10 PM



Thursday, January 24, 2008

Workers Threatened by Decline in OSHA Budget, Enforcement Activity

OMB Watch has published a new article titled, "Workers Threatened by Decline in OSHA Budget, Enforcement Activity." OSHA, like many other federal agencies, faces budget constraints that make it more difficult for the agency to achieve its mission. Over the past three decades, OSHA's budget, staffing levels, and inspection activity have dropped while the American workforce has grown and new hazards have emerged.

The article is the first in a series called Bankrupting Government: How a Decades-Long Campaign against Federal Spending Has Undermined Public Protections. In the coming months, the series will examine how long-term resource shortfalls at federal regulatory agencies have affected the ability of those agencies to fulfill their missions.

Read the article here.



Posted by Matt Madia, 04:33:48 PM



Friday, January 18, 2008

Holding Agencies Accountable (or Not) for Regulatory Delay

In a MarketWatch article published today, reporter Ruth Mantell discusses how agencies are rarely held accountable when they miss statutory deadlines for writing regulations. In one particularly onerous example, EPA has missed a Congressional deadline — by more than 11 years — for a rule that would limit exposure to lead paint during home renovation.

The nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) has sued EPA, a tactic that too often must be used to prod agency action, as Mantell points out:

Repercussions are typically light, if they are any at all, for a federal agency or other governmental body that's been late or slow in complying with a mandate, consumer advocates say. In response, a cottage industry in scheduling lawsuits, such as PEER's against EPA, has bloomed, looking to make sure that obligations are met.

Congress sometimes exerts its powers of oversight to push agencies along. However, oversight falls short when considering the scope of the federal bureaucracy (about 2.5 million civilian employees and half-a-trillion dollars in non-defense, discretionary spending) and the decades-worth of federal legislation agencies are responsible for enforcing.

As for the lead renovation rule, EPA plans to finalize the standard in March; but before EPA can do that, the rule has one more major hurdle to clear. The White House is currently reviewing the rule under Executive Order 12866. White House review — one of the many across-the-board government requirements agencies must abide by — certainly does not help agencies move more quickly.

This week, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs held a closed door meeting to discuss the rule with officials from EPA and representatives of the National Association of Home Builders — an outspoken opponent of the rule.



Posted by Matt Madia, 04:45:31 PM



Wednesday, January 09, 2008

The Importance of Online Access to Government Info

Yesterday, the Des Moines Register published an op-ed calling for greater online access to government information. The op-ed is written by Jerry Brito, a research fellow at George Mason University's conservative-minded Mercatus Center (the former home of OIRA administrator Susan Dudley).

Brito discusses a few new websites which allow the public to sort through government data more completely and more efficiently than ever before. One of those sites is the federal government's new contracts and grants database, USASpending.gov, which was modeled on OMB Watch's successful FedSpending.org website. Brito also mentions the need for online access to regulatory dockets.

The crux of Brito's argument is that information is vital to democracy and that internet access and technological advances provide new opportunities for the public to be informed. Read the op-ed here: "Put More Government Data Online" (Des Moines Register).



Posted by Matt Madia, 05:53:55 PM




Latest Entries by Theme

All Themes

Enforcement

About This Blog

Rollbacks

Safety

Industry Influence

Cost-Benefit Analysis

In Congress

Publications

Consumer Issues

Environment

Public Health

In the Courts

Oversight

In the White House

Most Recent Entries for RegWatch

Bush Strips Employee Rights with Last-Minute Order

White House Still Working to Thwart GHG Regulation

Endangered Species Rule Sealing Bush Legacy on Warming

Bush Administration Politicos Will Stick Around

Rules of the Road: DOT Puts Truck Drivers and Motorists at Risk

Last-Minute Rule Allows More Dirty Oil Production

Recommendations on Regulatory Reform for the Next President and Congress

Bush Handing over Wilderness to Oil and Gas Industry

New Rule Likely to Cut Health Care for the Poor

For High Court, High Stakes Case on Preemption

Archived Entries for Publications

July

June

May

April

March

February

January

December, 2007

November, 2007

October, 2007

August, 2007

April, 2007

March, 2007

February, 2007

December, 2006

October, 2006

September, 2006

August, 2006

July, 2006

June, 2006

May, 2006

April, 2006

March, 2006

February, 2006

January, 2006

December, 2005

November, 2005

October, 2005

September, 2005

August, 2005

July, 2005

June, 2005

May, 2005

April, 2005

March, 2005

February, 2005

January, 2005

December, 2004

November, 2004

October, 2004

September, 2004