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.
Past Projects
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Recommendation 2012-3, Immigration Removal Adjudication, addresses the problem of case backlogs in immigration removals. The recommendation suggests a number of ways to enhance efficiency and fairness in these cases.
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Recommendation 2012-5 addresses the problem of overlapping and fragmented procedures associated with assigning multiple agencies similar or related functions, or dividing authority among agencies.
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This proposed statement highlights potential mechanisms for reducing the backlog 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 the return of rules that require additional analysis, and ensuring that OIRA has adequate staffing to complete reviews in a timely manner.
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Incorporation by reference allows agencies to fulfill their legal obligation to publish rules in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) by referring to standards or other materials that have been published elsewhere. For example, when an agency adopts a standard created by a private standard-setting organization as a mandatory regulation, it typically publishes the standard by incorporating it by reference into the CFR. ...
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Recommendation 2012-8, “Inflation Adjustment Act,” addresses agency adjustments to civil monetary penalties under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, codified as amended at 28 U.S.C. 2461 note. The recommendation urges Congress to...
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Recommendation 2011-6, International Regulatory Cooperation, addresses how U.S. regulators can interact with foreign authorities to accomplish their domestic regulatory missions and eliminate unnecessary non-tariff barriers to trade. The project updates Administrative Conference Recommendation 91-1, Federal Agency Cooperation with Foreign Government Regulators.
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This study focused on the many legal issues that arise in e-Rulemaking, including how agencies may use software to determine that submitted comments are identical or nearly identical, and whether agencies can (and should) destroy paper copies of comments scanned to electronic form. The resulting recommendation identifies approaches that agencies can lawfully use to reduce costs and improve efficiency in e-Rulemaking.
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Background: In the last three months of a presidential administration, rulemaking activity increases considerably when compared to the same period in a non-transition year.* Although part of this increase likely results from ordinary procrastination and external delays, scholars have suggested that administrations also use the “midnight” period more strategically. First, administrations are said to have...
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This study examined whether the text of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), 44 U.S.C.