OMB crowdsources regulatory reform

Jul 19

From: Federal Computer Week

By Camille Tuutti

Crowdsourcing has lately been a popular way to gather ideas and information from an array of sources. Now, the White house is taking that avenue to ask citizens to chime in on how to help them overhaul and simplify rules and regulations.

Writing for the OMBlog, Cass Sunstein, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, said the administration wants to hear from the public on which rules should be eliminated, streamlined or made more effective. Citizens are also encouraged to share their insight on how to decrease reporting and paperwork burdens, as well as the best way to cut regulatory costs.

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White House Asks: Got an Idea to Simplify Regulations?

Jul 18

From: Wall Street Journal

By Elizabeth Williamson

Cass Sunstein, director of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on March 16, 2011. (AP Photo)

 

They’ve asked the people who make the rules, and now they’re asking you: The White House is seeking the public’s ideas on regulations made simple.

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Using a dull scissors to cut red tape

Jul 16

From:  The Hill

By Nancy A. Nord and Anne M. Northup, commissioners, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

Government agencies should review their rules regularly to ensure that those rules impose the lowest reasonable burden consistent with fulfilling the agency’s statutory objectives. As commissioners at the Consumer Product Safety Commission, we are faced with regulatory decisions that affect over 15,000 products worth billions to the American economy each year. As good regulators, it is incumbent upon us to consider the costs and benefits of the rules we adopt. To that end, we challenge our colleagues at the CPSC to embrace the spirit of President Obama’s Executive Order 13579, which asked independent agencies to use cost benefit analysis and to conduct retrospective reviews to identify and fix or repeal rules that are ineffective or too burdensome.

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Unbalanced Retrospective Regulatory Review

Jul 13

From: RegBlog

Michael Alan Livermore and Jason A. Schwartz

The  potential of the retrospective review of rules adopted by federal agencies has been hailed by both the right and the left as a way to improve regulation and increase efficiency: by collecting information on what works and what does not, we can make better choices in the future. The Obama Administration has embraced this vision of retrospective review, but unfortunately, by focusing almost exclusively on cutting costs, it is walking back its commitment to use this tool in a balanced fashion.

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