Regulatory Transparency

Articles & Analysis

Anti-Regulatory Attacks Coming in Both the House and Senate

While most Congress watchers have been focusing on the work of the Super Committee, anti-regulatory activists in both the House and the Senate have been working hard to undercut some of the most important safeguards that protect Americans.

Time to Take Regulations Seriously: How Legislative Sleight-of-Hand is Being Used to Undermine Public Protections

When the 112th Congress convened, it agreed to a rule that, barring emergencies, no bill would be voted on until its text had been publicly available for three days. Recently, however, anti-regulatory legislators have become adept at using amendments and seemingly innocuous provisions to attempt to undercut long-standing safeguards without providing sufficient time for debate and discussion of the implications of their actions. These tactics threaten public protections and the legislative process itself.

Obama's Regulatory Reforms Protect the Status Quo

On Jan. 18, President Obama issued a long-awaited executive order on the regulatory process and two related presidential memoranda. The order and the memos are aimed at reaffirming the existing regulatory process rather than significantly reforming it. The most impactful of the three documents is likely to be the memo on regulatory compliance, which stems from the administration's commitment to greater government accountability.

OMB Watch Comments on Obama Regulatory Reform Package

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18, 2011—The Obama administration today released three documents aimed at reforming some aspects of the regulatory process. Two of the actions, an executive order and a memorandum on small businesses and job creation, reaffirm existing approaches that have been in place for decades. Another memorandum seeks greater government accountability by directing agencies to disclose more regulatory compliance information. OMB Watch believes that while the reform package ushers in some positive policy measures, it also contains some problematic language and reinforces false notions regarding job creation and strong public protections.

Report Finds Regulatory Process Changes Stalled at Midterm Point of Obama Administration

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2011—Today, OMB Watch released the third and final report in a series on public protections and the Obama administration. The new report, The Obama Approach to Public Protection: The Regulatory Process, finds that although the Obama administration's overall regulatory philosophy is strikingly different from that of the previous administration, promised changes to the federal regulatory process have stalled out.

Commentary: Changes to Coal Ash Proposal Place Utility's Concerns above Public Health

An internal administration document shows the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may have weakened a proposal to regulate toxic coal ash at the behest of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), owner of a Kingston, TN, power plant where a dam break spilled 5.4 million cubic yards of coal ash in 2008.

Commentary: White House Misadventures in Coal Ash Rule

Developments behind the scenes of a new EPA proposal to regulate coal ash undermine several core tenets of the Obama presidency, conflict with pledges to reform the way government works, and expose the flaws in a regulatory process that too often does not do enough for the public.

EPA Plan Seeks to Instill Transparency into Agency DNA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released its plan for improving the agency's transparency as part of the Obama administration's Open Government Directive (OGD). The EPA was an early proponent of the new openness agenda, with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson calling for the agency to operate "as if it were in a fishbowl." The agency's new Open Government Plan documents numerous ongoing and future actions that should continue the agency's advance toward transparency and accountability.

At Agencies, Open Government and E-Rulemaking Go Hand in Hand

Several agencies are highlighting their rulemaking activities as part of the Obama administration's push to improve government transparency and public participation. The Department of Transportation (DOT), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Department of Labor (DOL) all recognized the importance of regulation by including rulemaking and regulatory innovations in their Open Government Plans.

One Small Policy Step, but One Huge Leap for Government Openness: Statement of Gary D. Bass

WASHINGTON, April 7, 2010—The Obama administration took several actions today that will likely have a lasting and positive impact on government transparency. Each federal agency announced its Open Government Plan, complemented by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) policy changes to reduce certain impediments to transparency and to improve both regulatory and federal spending transparency.