Notice & Comment

Author: Bridget C.E. Dooling

Notice & Comment

Update on the Guidance EO

Following up on our blog’s extensive coverage of the Trump administration’s recent executive orders on agency use of guidance, two recent pieces round up agency compliance with EO 13891. That EO (1) directs agencies to publicly catalog any existing guidance, with anything not in the catalog deemed rescinded, (2) directs agencies to promulgate rules about […]

Notice & Comment

Going Through Regulatory Withdrawal

If I taught a class called “Advanced Regulatory Maneuvers,” regulatory withdrawals would have to be on the syllabus. Withdrawing a proposed rule that an agency previously issued but has not yet finalized effectively erases the earlier proposal, requiring an agency to start over if it wants to proceed with a rule. A withdrawal communicates to […]

Notice & Comment

COVID-19 & CRA Jeopardy

We’ve covered the issue of Congressional Review Act (CRA) disapprovals quite closely here on the blog, so readers might recall that Congress can use the CRA to disapprove federal agency rules using fast-track procedures during a special window of time following the rule’s issuance. What we’ve surely never talked about on the blog is how […]

Notice & Comment

New ACUS Project on “Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments”

Last April, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) called for proposals for a new project on “Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments in Agency Rulemaking.” The request for proposals (RFP) signaled that ACUS was looking for a team of research consultants to take on the work, in concert with the Conference’s Research Director. Assembling […]

Notice & Comment

GAO Rebukes OIRA for Working on Rules During Shutdown

In a letter issued yesterday, the general counsel of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) opined that the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) violated the Antideficiency Act (ADA) when it worked on Department of Labor rules during last winter’s government shutdown. Shutdowns happen when an agency does not have an appropriation from Congress. […]

Notice & Comment

New OIRA Guidance on Guidance

Our blog exploded a couple of weeks ago when the president issued two new Executive Orders related to guidance. In about 24 hours we had four fine contributions, a testament to the blog’s deep bench: Breaking News: Two Major Executive Orders, Aaron Nielson The October 9 Executive Orders and Government Acquisition of Information, Bernard Bell […]

Notice & Comment

The Duality of Innovation and Standards

In their detailed history, Engineering Rules, Professors JoAnne Yates and Craig N. Murphy describe some of the people and processes that have featured prominently in standard-setting movements from the 1880s forward. The authors’ admiration for them is clear, as they describe the personal commitment of organizers and committee participants who travel, sometimes on their own […]

Notice & Comment

Introduction to Book Symposium: Rachel A. Potter’s Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy

This week, we’re hosting a web symposium on Dr. Rachel A. Potter’s new book, Bending the Rules: Procedural Politicking in the Bureaucracy (University of Chicago Press). Dr. Potter is an Assistant Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia. Prior to her academic career, she worked for the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in […]

Notice & Comment

FDLI Webinar on Regulation of Cannabis-Derived Products

This week I moderated a webinar at the Food & Drug Law Institute (FDLI) on the regulation of cannabis-derived products. This is a product & policy area that’s evolving as I type. Just this week, former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb wrote an op-ed acknowledging the consumer “craze” for products with CBD in them and encouraging FDA […]

Notice & Comment

Two Regulatory Reform Bills Introduced

Following up on my post about a Congressional hearing on regulatory reform before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs and Federal Management (RAFM), two new bills were introduced on May 13. Both bills grew out of that hearing (video & written testimony available on the HSGAC website). The Early […]