OIRA@2050

Editor’s Note: The Housing Development Toolkit is available here.

From: The Architects Newspaper

By Jason Sayer

The White House has published the “Housing Development Toolkit” in a bid to allow cities meet housing demands. The paper derides the current zoning laws and red tape that stand in the way of authorities building housing, thus leading to economic inequality and high rents that take a toll on the U.S. economy.

Advocating increased density (which will mean more tall buildings), faster paths to construction, and fewer zoning barriers, the toolkit will not be welcome among NIMBY protestors. However, developers, mayors, and builders may think differently. The paper outlines “actions that states and local jurisdictions have taken to promote healthy, responsive, affordable, high-opportunity housing markets,” including:

From: The White House

by Ed Felton and Terah Lyons

Under President Obama’s leadership, America continues to be the world’s most innovative country, with the greatest potential to develop the industries of the future and harness science and technology to help address important challenges. Over the past 8 years, President Obama has relentlessly focused on building U.S. capacity in science and technology. This Thursday, President Obama will host the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh to imagine the Nation and the world in 50 years and beyond, and to explore America’s potential to advance towards the frontiers that will make the world healthier, more prosperous, more equitable, and more secure. 

From: Notice & Comment |A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Emily Bremer

This fall, the Administrative Conference’s committees are working on a full slate of projects targeted for completion at the 66th Plenary Session, which will be held in December 2016.  These projects include: (1) The Ombudsman in Federal Agencies; (2) Informal Agency Adjudication; (3) Public-Private Partnerships; (4) Self-Represented Parties in Administrative Hearings; and (5) Social Security Administration Federal Courts Analysis.  A description and summary of all information available about each of these projects is provided below.

Editor’s Note: See, CRE’s letter to the ABA here and see the meeting Agenda of the ABA’s Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar which includes CRE’s recommendation.  

From: The Federalist Society

Administrative Law & Regulation Practice Group Podcast

Featuring Adam J. White, Jim Tozzi, Daniel Farber,Kristin Hickman

October 13, 2016

Listen to Podcast here

The growing role of the administrative agencies in American government is mirrored by a growing role of administrative law in legal education. The trend is exemplified by many law schools’ introduction of “Legislation and Regulation” (or “Leg-Reg”) as a first-year course.

From: Inside Sources

by Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.

Federal regulators issue thousands of rules and regulations every year. Decrees range from the Environmental Protection Agency’s gargantuan Clean Power Plan and “Waters of the United States” directives, down to regulations on breath mint serving sizes and multivitamins with selenium being treated as toxic waste.

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The Reagan order required that the benefits of new major regulations outweigh the costs. The order also formalized White House Office of Management and Budget “audit” responsibilities. Today, that basic process still exists, but subsequent executive orders “reaffirm(ed) the primacy of Federal agencies in the regulatory decision-making process” — in other words, weakening central White House review. A new president could restore that authority and boost OMB’s oversight resources.

From: Augusta Free Press

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-VA) followed up on his request to more than three-dozen federal agencies to provide Digital Accountability and Transparency (DATA) Act implementation plans, and requested updated plans from the agencies.

The DATA Act is the 2014 bipartisan federal financial management and transparency legislation authored by Warner and signed into law, which has been described as the most significant open-government initiative since the Freedom of Information Act of 1966 and is the nation’s first open data law.

Read Complete Article

From: Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget

Mitch Daniels is the president of Purdue University, a former governor of Indiana, a former director of the Office of Management and Budget, and a co-chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. He recently wrote an op-ed featured in the Wall Street Journal.

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When today’s young Americans learn the extent of the debt burden we have left them, they will legitimately question the premises of self-government. When tomorrow’s older Americans finally understand how they have been misled about the nature and the reliability of our fundamental social welfare programs, it may be the last straw breaking the public confidence on which democracy itself depends.

From: Administrative Conference of the United States

Submitted by Abigail Price

WASHINGTON, September 12, 2016 – President Barack Obama announced the nomination of Matthew L. Wiener as Chairman at the Administrative Conference of the United States.  Wiener has been serving as the executive director at the agency since 2012.  As Chairman, he will be responsible for leading the Conference, whose mission is to promote improvements in the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of the procedures by which federal agencies conduct regulatory programs, administer grants and benefits, and perform related governmental functions.

From: National Law Review

The 2016 Global Summit on Regulatory Science (GSRS) will be held September 7-9, 2016, in Bethesda, Maryland. Each GSRS meeting focuses on an area of regulatory science that would benefit from discussions aimed at identifying future research directions, and this GSRS meeting will focus on nanotechnology standards and applications, building on an October 11, 2015, GSRS workshop.  The 2015 workshop focused on physico-chemical measurements and standards relevant to nanomaterials in the “pristine state” and in complex matrices. This meeting will expand on that focus to include both physico-chemical and biological measurements and standards for specific applications, namely nanomaterial-containing drugs, medical devices, food and food contact materials, and personal care products.  The goals of the meeting are to:

From: Notice & Comment | A Blog from the Yale Journal on Regulation and the ABA Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice

by Chris Walker

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Coincidentally, RegBlog is currently running a fabulous series on innovations in teaching regulatory law. Definitely go check out the series here.

Although I am unsure what this enhanced curriculum would look like, I definitely agree with Farber and Tozzi that there’s a need for reform and that a study by the AALS might well advance the ball. It’s also refreshing to see regulatory scholars and practitioners on the left and right agree on something.