STATUS REPORT
rules that was established by Executive Order 12866 and requiring agencies to develop plans to conduct a retrospective review of their existing rules. Section 2 of Executive Order 13563, entitled "Public Participation," directs agencies to promote an "open exchange of information and perspectives" among all stakeholders during the regulatory process, and to provide the public with a "meaningful opportunity" to comment on proposed rules. Specifically, the Order directs agencies to provide the public with a "timely" opportunity to comment on proposed and final rules, and to make electronic rulemaking dockets, including the scientific and technical findings relevant to a proposed or final rule, available and searchable online. Executive Order 13563 also instructs agencies to "seek the views of those likely to be affected" by a proposed rule, including likely beneficiaries and those who would be subject to a rule. Notably, the Order directs agencies to do so before issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking.
In other words, Executive Order 13563 promotes increased public participation throughout all stages of the rulemaking process. Agencies will not satisfy the Order simply by allowing interested parties to comment on the text of a proposed or final agency rule after it is published in the Federal Register. Instead, it prescribes transparency—searchable, online access—to the docket underlying the proposed or final rule on Regulations.gov. Such access will foster meaningful participation during the development stage of proposed rules, not merely in response to propose rules. That is no small difference. Full agency implementation of Executive Order 13563 over the next year and beyond will increase significantly the opportunities for public participation in the rulemaking process.
The relevance of rulemaking of course continues even after the publication of a final rule. Section 6 of Executive Order 13563 accordingly directs agencies to develop plans to "periodically review . . . existing significant regulations to determine whether any such regulations should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed so as to make the agency's regulatory program more effective or less burdensome in achieving the regulatory objectives." Many agencies have sought public comments on their preliminary plans for retrospective review. They have been encouraged to publish their preliminary plans online on their Open Government websites, and to do so "in an open format that enables the public to download, analyze, and visualize any information and data."[1] The transparent development of agency review plans provides another example of how the Administration will continue to promote open government through the rest of 2011 and beyond.
Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement Transparency
Executive Order 13563 was accompanied by a Memorandum from the President on the subject of "Regulatory Compliance," issued the same day. The President's Regulatory Compliance Memorandum instructs agencies with substantial regulatory responsibilities to disclose to the public information about their regulatory inspections, citations, reviews, warnings, revocations, and other regulatory compliance and enforcement activities. The Memorandum further directs agencies to provide such information in a centralized way that is accessible and searchable on line, and to promote "new public uses" of this information. It also instructs the federal government's Chief Technology Officer and Chief Information Officer to
- ↑ See Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, "Retrospective Analysis of Existing Significant Regulations," M-11-19, available at
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2011/m11-19.pdf
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