[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 3, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5715-5716]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-01916]
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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
5 CFR Chapter XLII
20 CFR Chapters IV, V, VI, VII, and IX
29 CFR Subtitle A and Chapters II, IV, V, XVII, and XXV
30 CFR Chapter I
41 CFR Chapters 50, 60, and 61
48 CFR Chapter 29
Retrospective Review and Regulatory Flexibility
AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Labor.
ACTION: Request for information.
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SUMMARY: In response to the President's Executive Order 13563 on
improving regulation and regulatory review, and Executive Order 13610
on identifying and reducing regulatory burden, the Department of Labor
(DOL or the Department) is continuing to review its existing
significant regulations that impose large, ongoing burdens on the
public. The purpose of this document is to invite public comment on how
the Department can improve any of its significant regulations by
modernizing, modifying, redesigning, streamlining, expanding, or
repealing them.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 25, 2015.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through the Department's Regulations
Portal at http://www.dol.gov/regulations/regreview/.
All comments will be available for public inspection at http://www.dol.gov/regulations/regreview/.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela Peters, Program Analyst, Office
of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, 200
Constitution Avenue NW., Room S-2312, Washington, DC 20210,
[email protected], (202) 693-5959 (this is not a toll-free number).
Individuals with hearing impairments may call 1-800-877-8339 (TTY/TDD).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On January 18, 2011, President Obama issued
Executive Order 13563, ``Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review.''
The Order explains the Administration's goal of creating a regulatory
system that protects ``public health, welfare, safety, and our
environment while promoting economic growth, innovation,
competitiveness, and job creation'' while using ``the best, most
innovative, and least burdensome tools to achieve regulatory ends.''
The Executive Order required agencies to develop and submit a
preliminary plan within 120 days from the January 18 issuance date that
explained how each agency reviewed existing significant regulations to
identify whether any regulations may be made more effective or less
burdensome.
On March 21, 2011, the Department published a Request for
Information (RFI) in the Federal Register seeking public input to
inform development of its Preliminary Plan and providing an opportunity
for the public to identify potential regulations. The Department
published its Preliminary Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing
Rules on May 20, 2011.\1\
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\1\ http://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/2011-regulatory-action-plans/DepartmentofLaborPreliminaryRegulatoryReformPlan.pdf.
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The Department launched a second interactive Web site on June 2,
2011 and requested public input on certain aspects of the Preliminary
Plan.
After receipt and consideration of comments, the Department issued
its Plan for Retrospective Analysis of Existing Rules in August 2011.
On May 12, 2012, President Obama issued Executive Order 13610,
``Identifying and Reducing Regulatory Burdens.'' This Order explained
that ``it is particularly important for agencies to conduct
retrospective analyses of existing rules to examine whether they remain
justified and whether they should be modified or streamlined in light
of changed circumstances, including the rise of new technologies.''
Since August 2011, the Department has issued six updates to its August
2011 Plan.
Request for Comments
The Department recognizes the importance of conducting
retrospective review of regulations and is once again seeking public
comment on how the Department can increase the effectiveness of its
significant regulations while minimizing the burden on regulated
entities. The Department recognizes that the regulated community,
academia, and the public at large have an understanding of its programs
and their implementing regulations, and therefore is requesting public
comment on how the Department can prepare workers for better jobs,
improve workplace safety and health, promote fair and high-quality work
environments, and secure a wide range of benefits for employees and
those who are seeking work, all in ways that are more effective and
least burdensome.
This request for public input will inform development of the
Department's future plans to review its existing significant
regulations. To facilitate receipt of the information, the Department
has created an Internet portal specifically designed to capture your
input and suggestions, http://www.dol.gov/regulations/regreview/. The
portal contains a series of questions to gather information on how DOL
can best meet the requirements of the Executive Order. The portal will
be open to receive comments from January 28, 2015 through February 25,
2015.
Questions for the Public
What regulations and reporting requirements should be
considered for review, modification due to conflicts, inconsistencies,
or duplication among the regulations or requirements of the
Department's agencies or other federal agencies?
What reporting requirements and information collections
can be streamlined or reduced in frequency while achieving the same
level of protections for workers, job-seekers, and retirees? Are there
less costly methods, advances in technology, or innovative techniques
that can be leveraged toward these purposes?
What regulatory reforms may require short-term cost
increases to the regulated entities while creating longer-
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term savings, for example, through the adoption of new technologies?
What information, data, or technical assistance do regulated entities
need in order to better assess these opportunities?
How should the Department capture information about
changes in firm and market behavior in response to a regulation?
What data or other indicators suggest that the estimated
costs and benefits of an existing regulation should be reviewed? What
other strategies exist for increasing the flexibility of regulations
without limiting important protections?
What information, data, or other technical assistance do
stakeholders require in order to better assess the long-term impact of
these reforms upon such protections?
The Department is especially interested in candidates for review
for which there is evidence of rapid technological change in a sector
that could influence the structure and need for the regulation, whether
the chosen regulatory approach will impose large ongoing costs on
regulated entities, whether the agency is regulating in an area of
significant uncertainty that may be lowered with a future retrospective
study, and other similar conditions.
The Department intends the questions on the portal to initiate
public dialogue, and does not intend to restrict the issues that may be
raised or addressed. The questions were developed with the intent to
probe a range of areas, including tools that can be used to prioritize
regulations for review; strategies that can be used to increase
flexibility of regulations; and measures to ensure scientific integrity
of data.
Please note that these questions do not pertain to DOL rulemakings
currently open for public comment. To comment on an open rulemaking,
please visit regulations.gov and submit comments by the deadline
indicated in that rulemaking. Comments that pertain to rulemakings
currently open for public comment will not be addressed by the
Department in this venue, which focuses on retrospective review.
When addressing the questions in the portal, the Department
requests that commenters identify with specificity the regulation or
reporting requirement at issue, providing legal citation(s) where
available. The Department also requests that submitters provide, in as
much detail as possible, an explanation of why a regulation or
reporting requirement should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or
repealed, as well as specific suggestions of ways the Department can
better achieve its regulatory objectives. Whenever possible, please
provide empirical evidence and data to support your response.
The Department will consider public comments as we update our plan
to review the Department's significant rules. The Department is issuing
this request solely to seek useful information as we update our review
plan. While responses to this request do not bind the Department to any
further actions related to the response, all submissions will be made
available to the public on http://www.dol.gov/regulations/regreview/.
Authority: E.O. 13653, 76 FR 3821, Jan. 21, 2011; E.O. 12866, 58
FR 51735, Oct. 4, 1993.
Dated: January 28, 2015.
Christopher P. Lu,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-01916 Filed 2-2-15; 8:45 am]
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