NEIL EISNER ASSISTANT GENERAL COUNSEL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MARCH 10, 2011 ACUS Workshop on Retrospective Review of Existing Regulations Planning an Agency’s Review
2 Background
“Regular” vs. “Special” Reviews 3 Regular reviews Required by statute, executive order, and agency order DOT has 10-year, “rolling” review Special reviews; e.g.: Presidents/other officials mandate special, short-term reviews, such as EO Public petitions Post-accident/incident analysis Reaction to requests for interpretations
Not Simple and Easy 4 Not just read and decide; public participation, research, and analysis may be necessary E.g., FAA aircraft certification regulations review 11 of 73 FAA CFR parts ≈2,000 public suggestions Public hearings and other steps to narrow 8 NPRMs, ≈ 200 pages each, ≈ 600 proposed changes 9 final rules, ≈ 200 pages each, ≈ 500 changes adopted 8 years to complete E.g., NHTSA major statistical evaluations of rules pages, 1,ooo – 2,ooo FTE hours, 1 – 2 years to complete
5 E.O
Time and Resources 6 Significant constraints Obtain and retain senior-level involvement Involve public early through simple notices Solicit ideas from non-regulatory agency staff (e.g., enforcement staff and data analysts) Each agency has to tailor actions to specific responsibilities (e.g., type of entities regulated)
Public Participation 7 Federal Register + press announcements, web notices, and mass s Written comments + IdeaScale Public meeting(s) + webcasting and phone lines Website for quick/easy access to information Time for hearing registration, length of comment period, etc. STRESS: existing rules, existing rules, existing…
Early Planning for Effective Implementation 8 Effective methods for identifying good review candidates and list of rules Questions for agency and public to consider More on that during implementation panel
9 Conclusion