ACSBlog: The Blog of the American Constitution Society

The GAO just published a report examining how federal agencies review existing regulations, concluding "Opportunities Exist to Improve Effectiveness and Transparency of Retrospective Reviews." The 122-page report's recommendations are after the jump.

GAO's recommendations for Agencies

1. Consideration, during the promulgation of certain new rules, of whether and how they will measure the performance of the regulation, including how and when they will collect, analyze, and report the data needed to conduct a retrospective review. Such rules may include significant rules, regulations that the agencies know will be subject to mandatory review requirements, and any other regulations for which the agency believes retrospective reviews may be appropriate.
2. Prioritization of review activities based upon defined selection criteria. These criteria could take into account factors such as the impact of the rule; the length of time since its last review; whether changes to technology, science, or the market have affected the rule; and whether the agency has received substantial feedback regarding improvements to the rule, among other factors relevant to the particular mission of the agency.
3. Specific review factors to be applied to the conduct of agencies’ analyses that include, but are not limited to, public input to regulatory review decisions.
4. Minimum standards for documenting and reporting all completed review results. For reviews that included analysis, these minimal standards should include making the analysis publicly available.
5. Mechanisms to assess their current means of communicating review results to the public and identify steps that could improve this communication. Such steps could include considering whether the agency could make better use of its agency Web site to communicate reviews and results, establishing an e-mail listserve that alerts interested parties about regulatory reviews and their results, or using other Web-based technologies (such as Web forums) to solicit input from stakeholders across the country.
6. Steps to promote sustained management attention and support to help ensure progress in institutionalizing agency regulatory review initiatives.
7. For OIRA: Work with regulatory agencies to identify opportunities for Congress to revise the timing and scope of existing regulatory review requirements and/or consolidate existing requirements.

Congress may wish to consider authorizing a pilot program with selected agencies that would allow the agencies to satisfy various retrospective review requirements with similar review factors that apply to the same regulations by conducting one review that is reported to all of the appropriate relevant parties and oversight bodies.