Web widens view of regulatory work

"OMB Expands use of Internet in Regulatory Review Process"

Starting this month, the Office of Management and Budget will use the Internet to provide the public with greater access to the federal regulatory review process, following its own guidance to move agencies toward e-government.

The OMB Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs oversees agencies' regulations, meetings and communications. To make its work — and therefore all agencies' work — more visible and understandable, OIRA Administrator John Graham on Oct. 17 announced a multiyear program to expand the information the office releases via the Internet.

The first step is to make the regulatory review process available through the OMB Web site and the FirstGov portal by Nov. 1. Previously, this information was only available from a public docket room in Washington, D.C.

"If OMB is to be a credible advocate of e-government, we must practice e-government ourselves," Graham said in a statement.

In this first phase, the information OIRA will provide includes:

* Daily updated lists of regulations under review.

* Monthly statistical summaries of reviews by agencies.

* Copies of review-related letters from OIRA to agencies.

* Copies of important policy communications, such as memos from OIRA to the President's Management Council.