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OMB Watch Task Force: The Internet is Key to Transparency in Rulemaking

By Eric L. Lipman

Posted to the Social Science Research Network earlier this month was a report, commissioned by the Washington, D.C.-based research and advocacy group OMB Watch, on methods by which the next Administration could enhance transparency and public participation in federal rulemaking.

At the core of the Task Force?s recommendations are leveraging the power of the Internet to make a wider range of materials accessible to interested members of the public, at low cost. Among the Task Force?s recommendations are:

Agencies should streamline the FOIA request process by publishing electronically not only (i) the records that FOIA requires an agency to release without first receiving a request, but also (ii) any documents that an agency or court has previously determined not to fall within a FOIA exemption.

Agencies should [adopt], as government-wide best practices for docket-related transparency, the requirements of Clean Air Act § 307(d) that call for promptly including in each rule?s docket, among other records, all communications with OMB and other documents of ?central relevance.?

Individual agencies should also improve search capabilities on their own websites and, for significant rulemakings, create pages that hyperlink to www.Regulations.gov.

In addition to the Task Force on Transparency and Public Participation, OMB Watch has also established three other task forces ? exploring ?scientific integrity in regulatory decision-making,? ?regulatory tools? and ?government management.?

The complete report of the Task Force on Transparency and Public Participation, including all 26 of the panel?s recommendations, is accessible here.

Full post as published by Within the Scope on November 09, 2008 (boomark / email).