Obama Administration Asks for Public Views on E-Rulemaking

The Obama administration is asking for feedback on its efforts to include the public in regulatory decision making. E-rulemaking allows citizens and stakeholders to comment on regulations and other government documents online, but existing challenges have limited public participation.

The federal government launched its e-rulemaking program in 2002. The intent of e-rulemaking is to give interested citizens and stakeholders a one-stop location to view documents related to a pending regulation and to file comments on regulations. Almost every federal rulemaking agency has incorporated its online rulemaking docket into the government-wide system.

Despite its potential to expand and facilitate participation, the e-rulemaking system has fallen short of expectations. One of the major challenges has been public education: many citizens simply are not aware of how regulations affect them or do not know where and how to comment on regulations.

The public site for accessing documents and commenting on regulations, Regulations.gov [1], has already gone through several changes, most as a result of usability issues. However, problems remain. For example, the search and sort functions are limited, making it difficult for users to easily find what they are looking for. Regulations.gov also does not provide adequate options for users to be notified of new information about a proposed rule or about updates posted online.

The Obama administration has launched a site to preview upcoming changes on Regulations.gov and to solicit more ideas on ways to improve the site. Regulations.gov/Exchange [2] allows users to submit their ideas and feedback in a blog format.

Comments on Regulations.gov/Exchange have given the administration's reform effort mixed reviews. Some commenters praised the proposed changes, while others said they do not go far enough to make Regulations.gov more user-friendly.

The White House also included e-rulemaking as one topic in its Open Government Initiative [3] – an effort that allows users to post ideas online and rate the ideas of others.

The comments on the e-rulemaking post [4] in the Open Government Initiative received a relatively low number of comments, 31, compared to some other posts on different transparency and participation issues, which exceeded 100 comments. Several commenters encouraged the administration to expand participation in rulemaking by adopting interactive web tools such as wikis or rating systems that would allow users to endorse others' comments. Commenters also called on agencies to improve outreach efforts so more citizens are notified when an agency undertakes a rulemaking.

The Open Government Initiative is in its final phase – users are now able to collaboratively craft policy recommendations online. Thus far, comments on the "Improving Online Participation in Rulemaking" topic [5] generally call on the government to do a better job of publicizing rulemaking activity and the rationale for decisions. Comments have focused less on the mechanics of how users access and comment on regulations.

The final drafting phase of the Open Government Initiative lasts through Monday, July 6. Regulations.gov/Exchange will continue to take comments through July 21.

In 2008, the American Bar Association (ABA) released a report [6] calling for an overhaul of the federal e-rulemaking system that would be more aggressive than what has been previewed on Regulations.gov/Exchange. The report includes some recommendations made by users during the Open Government Initiative but also includes many others.

The report, Achieving the Potential: The Future of Federal e-Rulemaking, was written by regulatory and open government experts from outside the government. The authors wrote the report to provide the administration and Congress with a comprehensive roadmap for reforming e-rulemaking.

Among other things, the report recommends:

• An improved search function that allows users to better define search parameters and sort results
• The use of innovative techniques such as wikis and blogs to stimulate participation
• The creation of comment portals on individual agency sites in addition to the current, centralized portal found at Regulations.gov
• The formation of a public committee to advise the federal government on the status of, and changes to, the e-rulemaking system
• Greater and more consistent funding for e-rulemaking efforts (currently, a dedicated funding source does not exist, requiring agencies to divert funds from other activities)