Public Participation

The Bottom Line: (1) An analysis conducted pursuant to OMB Circular A-4 should include a disclosure of the  “conventional ”  B/C ratio and (2) A demonstration of positive net benefits, however defined, should be a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the adoption of a proposed rule until which time the said rule is included in a regulatory budget. A regulatory budget compels the disclosure of the opportunity cost of a decision rule. See the Opportunity Cost of Neglect in Public Policy and here.  In addition there is ample evidence to suggest that decisions made pursuant to  bounded institutions, such as the regulatory budget, yield superior results relative to unbounded institutions. [ Jim Tozzi, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Past, Present, and Future, 11 J. BENEFIT COST-ANALYSIS 1, 24–37 (2020);  Yair Listokin, Bounded Institutions, 124 YALE L.J. 336, 367 (2014) ]  Vintage OIRA

Serious consideration should be given to making sequential revisions to OMB Circular A-4, beginning with one limited to income distribution.[08 22 2023]

                                  A Proposed Interactive Management Forum
                                                      

Recommended Action 

• Establish periodic meetings of ACUS members, Senior Fellows and Agency Representatives focused on providing responses to questions asked by federal members when they solicit advice on an issue which is not addressed in total or in part by existing ACUS publications.

The proliferation of “technological advances” in the management of the administrative state is often hailed in an overly positive manner.  Far be it for a practitioner not to support the widespread use of, for example,  smartphones during the conduct of a regulatory proceeding and to oppose, in a number of instances, the proliferation of Zoom calls in lieu of face-to-face meetings. Consider the unrestricted use of smartphones during administrative hearings, devices that result in a constant interruption of thoughtful endeavors and the limitless use of Zoom calls which allow proponents of a particular position to escape any eye-to-eye contact with the opposition and  prevents an assessment of the sense of the audience.