Renewing Government: Recommendations to President Obama and the 111th Congress

AUTHORS:
Gary D. Bass
Michael Bird
Caroline Smith DeWaal
N. Bruce Duthu
David J. Goldston
Mark Greenwood
Francesca Grifo
John Irons
Edwin S. Jayne
Sylvia Johnson
David Michaels
Richard W. Parker
Beryl Radin
Reece Rushing
J. Robert Shull
Peter L. Strauss
Wesley Warren

Note on authorship: The vision and the general thrust of the recommendations in this report are supported by each author, although not all authors agree on every recommendation or characterization.

Renewing Government: Recommendations to President Obama and the 111th Congress

Executive Summary

Federal regulations are critical elements to implementing public policy. They provide the protections we need to ensure that our food is healthy, our children's toys are safe, our air and water are clean, dangers in our workplaces are reduced or eliminated, and our economy functions efficiently and effectively.

Introduction

Federal regulations are critical elements to implementing public policies. Together these regulations provide the protections we need to ensure that our food is healthy, our children's toys are safe, our air and water are clean, dangers in our workplaces are reduced or eliminated, and our economy functions efficiently and effectively.

Foreword and Acknowledgements

In my 25 years of running OMB Watch, I have never seen a project quite like Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform, the project that has generated the recommendations herein. What began as an OMB Watch project guided by a Steering Committee transformed into an exciting, organic process with a product no longer owned solely by OMB Watch. Instead, these recommendations are a product of 17 diverse regulatory experts.

Appendix: Task Force Membership

Below are the members of the four task forces that helped develop background information for the Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform project. The task forces operated independently of the Steering Committee and have neither considered nor endorsed the specific recommendations presented in this report.

Appendix: Steering Committee Membership

Below are the Steering Committee members for the Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform project as of November 2008.* Affiliations are for identification purposes only and do not indicate involvement or an endorsement of the project recommendations by the organizations.

Gary D. Bass
Executive Director
OMB Watch

Appendix: Project Description

OMB Watch initiated this regulatory reform project, Advancing the Public Interest Through Regulatory Reform, in Spring 2007 to develop recommendations to improve the US regulatory system.

Appendix: Lists of Recommendations

ORGANIZED BY TOPIC

Below is the list of recommendations as they appear in the report, without explanatory text.

Detailed Recommendations: Public Participation

THE PROBLEM

The primary vehicle for public participation is the comment period directly following publication of a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM). What the public does not fully appreciate, however, is that notice of a proposed rulemaking comes quite late in the rule development process.

Detailed Recommendations: Transparency

THE PROBLEM

The process by which a rule is developed can be hidden from public view by institutional mechanisms, a lack of disclosure requirements, and government officials who would prefer not to disclose certain documents or communications.

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