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News & Analysis | REG•WATCH Blog | Press Room
Friday, October 19, 2007
New Report on E-Rulemaking
The Congressional Research Service (CRS) has released a report (available from OpenCRS.org) on e-rulemaking, which it defines as "the term used to describe the use of information technology (IT) to facilitate a range of activities related to the process of developing regulations." CRS specialist Curtis Copeland discusses a recent history of e-rulemaking and challenges the executive branch faces in implementing and expanding e-rulemaking.
The report also extensively discusses Regulations.gov, a federally-run website where the public can search for rules and supporting information and submit comments.
Anyone who has used Regulations.gov knows it can be frustrating. Sometimes finding a proposed rule and commenting on it is simple. Other times, even if you know exactly what you are looking for, you can become lost in the volumes of information provided through the database.
CRS conducted tests to judge the ease of navigability on the site. A description of one test is similar to the experiences of many users of Regulations.gov:
CRS also attempted to locate information on an EPA rule changing the emission standards for mercury. Using the "Search Documents" function, identifying EPA, using the "Subject" category, and putting "mercury" in the associated box led to a list of possible dockets, the first of which was for a January 2004 proposed rule.131 The docket contained a total of 6,902 documents across 277 pages of material. No index was provided, and the contents were not organized by type of document (e.g., agency generated documents versus public comments) or chronologically.
The report includes an astute observation from Professor Richard Parker, a professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law and an expert in regulatory issues: "too much information — badly disorganized — is not much better than too little."
Posted by Matt Madia
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