[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 37 (Thursday, February 26, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Page 8819]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-4080]


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OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET


Federal Regulatory Review

AGENCY: Office of Management and Budget, Executive Office of the 
President.

ACTION: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is 
developing a set of recommendations to the President for a new 
Executive Order on Federal Regulatory Review, and invites public 
comments on how to improve the process and principles governing 
regulation.

DATES: Comments must be in writing and received by March 16, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments by one of the following methods:
     E-mail: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov.
     Fax: (202) 395-7245.
     Mail: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, 
Records Management Center, Office of Management and Budget, Attn: Mabel 
Echols, Room 10102, NEOB, 725 17th Street, NW.,Washington, DC 20503. We 
are still experiencing delays in the regular mail, including first 
class and express mail. To ensure that your comments are received on 
time, we recommend that comments be electronically submitted.
    All comments submitted in response to this notice will be made 
available to the public on OMB's Web site. For this reason, please do 
not include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such 
as sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you 
send an e-mail comment directly to OMB, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mabel Echols, Office of Information 
and Regulatory Affairs, Records Management Center, Office of Management 
and Budget, Room 10102, NEOB, 725 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 
20503. Telephone: (202) 395-6880.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For well over two decades, the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at OMB has reviewed Federal 
regulations. The purposes of such review have been to ensure 
consistency with Presidential priorities, to coordinate regulatory 
policy, and to offer a dispassionate and analytical ''second opinion'' 
on agency actions.
    In a recent Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and 
Agencies, published in the Federal Register [74 FR 5977], the President 
directed the Director of OMB to produce a set of recommendations for a 
new Executive Order on Federal regulatory review. Among other things, 
he stated that the recommendations should offer suggestions for the 
following:
     The relationship between OIRA and the agencies;
     Disclosure and transparency;
     Encouraging public participation in agency regulatory 
processes;
     The role of cost-benefit analysis;
     The role of distributional considerations, fairness, and 
concern for the interests of future generations;
     Methods of ensuring that regulatory review does not 
produce undue delay;
     The role of the behavioral sciences in formulating 
regulatory policy; and
     The best tools for achieving public goals through the 
regulatory process.
    Executive Orders are not subject to notice and comment procedures, 
and as a general rule, public comment is not formally sought before 
they are issued. In this case, however, there has been an unusually 
high level of public interest, and because of the evident importance 
and fundamental nature of the relevant issues, the Director of OMB 
invites public comments on the principles and procedures governing 
regulatory review. These comments will be read and considered seriously 
even though no responses will be given.
    This public process is not intended to, and does not, create any 
right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in 
equity by any party against the United States, its departments, 
agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other 
person.

Kevin F. Neyland,
Acting Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs.
[FR Doc. E9-4080 Filed 2-25-09; 8:45 am]
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