Recommendation 2015-4 - Designing Federal Permitting Programs describes different types of permitting systems and provides factors for agencies to consider when designing or reviewing permitting programs.
Past Projects
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2011-3 – Government Contractor Ethics addresses the increasing use of contractors in government and asks the Federal Acquisition Regulation Council to adopt revisions regarding compliance standards for government contractor employees relating to personal conflicts of interest and use of certain non-public information. In February 2013, the American Bar Association’s House of Delegates adopted a...
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2014-2 – Government in the Sunshine Act highlights best practices designed to enhance transparency of decision making at multi-member boards and commissions subject to the Government in the Sunshine Act. The recommendation urges covered agencies to provide a description of the primary mechanisms for conducting business, describe substantive business disposed of outside of open meetings...
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2013-7 – Review of GPRA Modernization Act of 2010 examines the Act’s requirements for cross-agency collaboration; identifies existing constraints to collaboration; highlights tools available to help agencies collaborate; and recommends potential new or enhanced avenues of collaboration.
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2014-3 – Guidance in the Rulemaking Process identifies best practices for agencies when providing guidance in preambles to final rules. It suggests ways that agencies can improve the drafting and presentation of these preambles, including making it easier to identify any guidance content. The recommendation also urges agencies to ensure that users of their websites can easily locate the...
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2012-3 – Immigration Removal Adjudication addresses the problem of case backlogs in immigration removals and suggests ways to enhance efficiency and fairness in these cases. Much of the recommendation was incorporated into the bipartisan immigration legislation (S. 744) that passed the Senate last year.
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2012-5 – Improving Coordination of Related Agency Responsibilities addresses the problem of overlapping and fragmented procedures associated with assigning multiple agencies similar or related functions, or dividing authority among agencies.
Stage:
Committee:
Statement #18 – Improving the Timeliness of OIRA Regulatory Review (Adopted December 6, 2013) highlights potential mechanisms for improving review times of rules under review by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), including promoting enhanced coordination between OIRA and agencies prior to the submission of rules, encouraging increased transparency concerning the reasons for delayed reviews, and...
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2011-5 – Incorporation by Reference addresses ways in which agencies publish rules that refer to standards or other materials that have been published elsewhere.
Stage:
Committee:
Recommendation 2012-8 – Inflation Adjustment for Civil Penalties addresses agency adjustments to civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act (28 U.S.C. 2461 note). The recommendation urges Congress to change the current statutory framework by which agencies periodically adjust their penalties to address three provisions that result in penalty adjustments that may not track the...