Achieving the Potential: The Future of Federal E-Rulemaking

Abstract

A key element of the Obama Administration’s Open Government Directive is increasing public participation in regulatory decisionmaking through information and communication technologies. Rulemaking has long been a principal target for federal e-government efforts; for several years, the federal eRulemaking Initiative has been creating a single rulemaking portal, regulations.gov, with a cross-agency electronic rulemaking docket, the Federal Docket Management System. Under the sponsorship of the Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association, a blue ribbon committee studied the progress and results of these efforts. Its report makes recommendations to Congress, the Administration, and federal agencies for improving system design and performance and developing better agency erulemaking practices. The committee concluded that significant shortcomings in usability and functionality are inextricably bound up with how the Initiative has been structured and funded. Its set of interrelated recommendations in all these areas have been endorsed by the ABA and a number of organizations concerned with citizen access to, and participation in, government.The Foreword and Executive Summary of the report are reproduced here. The full text, along with the the list of endorsing organizations, can be found at the Cornell e-Rulemaking Initiative site.