The New Rulemaking Blog

The new Rulemaking blog can be found at http://rulemaking.wordpress.com/. Thanks.

President Bush Amends Executive Order 12866 Affecting Federal Rulemaking Process

In 1993, President Clinton issued Executive Order 12866, entitled "Regulatory Planning and Review"(58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993). That order, according to OMB Watch:

. . . establishes the guiding principles agencies must follow when developing regulations, including encouraging the use of cost-benefit analysis, risk assessment, and performance-based regulatory standards. The executive order also establishes the regulatory planning process for each agency, delegating authority to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to coordinate agency rulemaking efforts with the regulatory priorities of the President. E.O. 12,866 also expands the roles of OIRA in rulemaking through a centralized review of regulations, whereby OIRA acts as gatekeeper for the promulgation of all significant rulemakings. (Source: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/180/1/67, accessed 1/27/2007)

On January 18, 2007, President Bush issued Executive Order 13422 (72 FR 2763, January 23, 2007), and OMB Watch sounded an alarm. Analyzing the new order in an article entitled, "Undermining Public Protections", OMB watch warns:

The revised Executive Order . . . is a further threat to public protections from an administration committed to elevating special interests over public interests. It codifies regulatory delay, further removes agency discretion over legislative implementation, and centralizes control over the regulatory process into a small executive office. It substitutes free market criteria for the public values of health, safety, and environmental protections, and substitutes executive authority for legislative authority. (Source: http://www.ombwatch.org/article/articleview/3685/1/{category_id}, accessed 1/27/2007)

Public Citizen is also critical of the executive order, characterizing it as a move that "will threaten the ability of the federal government to protect and inform the public." Public Citizen itemized it concerns, saying:

First, it requires agencies to get White House approval of many important kinds of guidance for the public, which would allow the White House to create a bureaucratic bottleneck that would slow down agencies’ ability to give the public information it needs. Agencies use guidance to let the public know how they intend to enforce the laws and regulations on the books.

*****

Second, the new order stresses the concept of “market failure” in its revised command for agencies to state justifications for new regulations for public health, privacy, safety, civil rights and the environment. Market failure is an economics term describing situations in which private markets, left to themselves, fail to bring about results that the public needs. This order, however, will be enforced by Susan Dudley, the radical extremist that the White House is setting up for a recess appointment to become the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Based on an evaluation of Dudley’s record in a report released last year, Public Citizen has concluded that in her hands, the market failure provision will become a barrier to the protections that the public needs.

Third, the order requires agencies to develop annual plans for upcoming rulemakings that identify "the combined aggregate costs and benefits of all … regulations planned for that calendar year to assist with the identification of priorities." This new requirement will make cost/benefit analysis the central factor in setting priorities for needed protections of the public interest. (Source: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2361, accessed 1/27/2007)

Other news about the order seems scarce. Searches on major eastern newspaper websites, and the news services on Google and Yahoo yielded only one other article. In that article, NewsInferno.com (http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/1402#more-1402) relied upon information from Public Citizen. Even the Wall Street Journal appeared to be silent about the order.

Part of the problem might be accessibility and the method used to amend the order. Executive Order 13422 directs changes at specific paragraphs in the old, previously amended order. After spending a significant amount of time searching online, it became clear that a complete version that integrates the changes is not available--at least not yet.

It will be interesting to watch the federal regulatory process and see if the fears expressed will materialize.

NOTE: Executive Order 12866 was also amended by Executive Order 13258, issued February 26, 2002, by President Bush (67 FR 9385, February 28, 2002).

MSAPA Update

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) has scheduled the next Model State Administrative Procedure Act (MSAPA) drafting committee for November 17 through 19, 2006, in Chicago, IL.

NCCUSL has also announced that, for health reasons, Prof. John Gedid has stepped down as reporter for the committee, however, he plans to continue serving as a commissioner on the MSAPA committee. The new reporter is Professor Greg Ogden from the Pepperdine University School of Law. More information about Professor Ogden is available at http://law.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/ogden.html.

Information about the latest MSAPA draft is available at http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/ulc.htm#msapa.

NASS Newsletter - Summer 2006

The Summer 2006 NASS Newsletter has been posted to the NASS website. ACR news is on page 6. http://www.nass.org/newsletters/NASS_Summer2006.pdf

New Mexican Becomes Officer in National Administrative Rules Organization

PRESS RELEASE

Santa Fe, New Mexico -- July 10, 2006 -- The director of the Administrative Law Division of the New Mexico Commission of Public Records – State Records Center and Archives has been elected to be the next secretary-treasurer of the national Administrative Codes and Registers organization. John H. Martinez commenced a two-year term that will run through July 2008 as an officer of the organization of state and federal administrative regulatory professionals. The election was held on Monday, July 10 at the National Association of Secretaries of State conference held in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Since 2001, Mr. Martinez has been involved in the development and production of the New Mexico Register, the official publication for all notices of rulemaking and filings of adopted, proposed and emergency rules in New Mexico, and in the development and production of New Mexico's online administrative code of rules.

Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) is a section of the National Association of Secretaries of State. ACR was organized 28 years ago, in St. Louis, Missouri. Its objectives include fostering the development of better rule writing skills and rule review techniques; developing more effective management of the rule promulgation process, particularly in the publication of administrative codes and registers; and increasing public access to and involvement in the rulemaking process.

Martinez has been active in ACR since 2001. He served as a regional representative to the ACR executive committee from 2004-2006 and in 2004, he served as program chairperson for the organization's summer conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Martinez succeeds Julie Yamaka, manager of the Publications Unit of the Oregon State Archives. Martinez will work with Jane D. Chaffin (VA), president, to direct the national organization's activities during the next two years, including its annual survey of state rulemaking and its annual conference. More information about ACR is available on the Internet at http://www.nass.org/acr/acr.html.

Oregonian Becomes Officer in National Administrative Rules Organization

PRESS RELEASE

Santa Fe, New Mexico -- July 10, 2006 -- The manager of the Publications Unit of the Oregon State Archives has been elected to be the next Vice President of the national Administrative Codes and Registers organization. Julie Yamaka commenced a two-year term that will run through July 2008 as an officer of the organization of state and federal administrative regulatory professionals. The election was held on Monday, July 10 at the National Association of Secretaries of State conference held in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Ms. Yamaka has served as manager of the Publications Unit of the Archives Division of the Oregon Secretary of State for nine years. The Publications Unit is charged with filing and publishing the Oregon Administrative Rules and compiling and publishing the Oregon Blue Book. She has worked for the Secretary of State since 1990, serving in several different capacities.

Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) is a section of the National Association of Secretaries of State. ACR was organized 28 years ago, in St. Louis, Missouri. Its objectives include fostering the development of better rule writing skills and rule review techniques; developing more effective management of the rule promulgation process, particularly in the publication of administrative codes and registers; and increasing public access to and involvement in the rulemaking process.

Yamaka has been active in ACR since 1998. She served as a regional representative to the ACR executive committee from 2000-2004, secretary-treasurer from 2004-2006, and in 2002, she served as program chairperson for the organization's summer conference in Providence, Rhode Island. Yamaka succeeds Jane Chaffin, Registrar of Regulations for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Yamaka will work with Chaffin, president, to direct the national organization's activities during the next two years, including its annual survey of state rulemaking and its annual conference. More information about ACR is available on the Internet at http://www.nass.org/acr/acr.html.

Virginian to Lead National Administrative Rules Organization

PRESS RELEASE

Santa Fe, New Mexico -- July 10, 2006 -- The Registrar of Regulations for the Commonwealth of Virginia has been elected president of the national Administrative Codes and Registers organization. Jane D. Chaffin commenced a two-year term that will run through July 2008 as leader of the organization of state and federal administrative regulatory professionals. The election was held on Monday, July 10 at the National Association of Secretaries of State conference held in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Since 1987, Ms. Chaffin has been involved in the development and production of the Virginia Register of Regulations, a bi-weekly publication that provides notice of proposed, final and emergency regulatory changes of Virginia's state agencies, and with the codification of the Commonwealth's regulations in the Virginia Administrative Code.

Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) is a section of the National Association of Secretaries of State. ACR was organized 28 years ago, in St. Louis, Missouri. Its objectives include fostering the development of better rule writing skills and rule review techniques; developing more effective management of the rule promulgation process, particularly in the publication of administrative codes and registers; and increasing public access to and involvement in the rulemaking process.

Chaffin has been active in ACR since 1988. She served as a regional representative to the ACR executive committee from 1998-2002, secretary-treasurer from 2002-2004, and vice president from 2004-2006.

Chaffin succeeds Dennis Stevenson, Administrative Rules Coordinator for the State of Idaho. Chaffin will direct the national organization's activities during the next two years, including its annual survey of state rulemaking and its annual conference. More information about ACR is available on the Internet at http://www.nass.org/acr/acr.html.

70 Years of Public Access -- Federal Register Celebrates 70th Anniversary

At its winter meeting, Administrative Codes and Registers adopted the following resolution.

Administrative Codes and Registers Section
of the
National Association of Secretaries of State

RESOLUTION

The Administrative Codes and Registers section of the National Association of Secretaries of State hereby recognizes the 70th anniversary of the Federal Register.

On March 14, 2006, the National Archives and Records Administration and the Office of the Federal Register will celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first edition of the Federal Register. The daily Federal Register was created to document the workings of our democracy, ensuring that citizens are well informed about the policies and actions of their government. Accordingly, the Administrative Codes and Register section commends the Office of the Federal Register for seventy years of service to the people of the United States.

The scope and complexity of governmental activity has grown enormously since the Federal Register began publishing in 1936. Now more than ever, we rely on the Federal Register for the accuracy and integrity of official information, for ensuring transparency and accountability of government, and for maintaining our system of checks and balances in administrative rulemaking and constitutional democracy.

For seventy years the Federal Register has been published every business day, without fail, providing indispensable information about the actions of the President, the full and exact text of the proposed and final regulations of Federal agencies, and many other documents that enable the American people to participate in the making of law and policy.

Whereas, the Office of the Federal Register is a charter member of the Administrative Codes and Registers section, the ACR wishes to congratulate the past and present staff of the Federal Register for their dedication and professional skill in this 70th year of publication.

Presented this 3rd day of February 2006,
at the NASS/ACR annual winter
conference in Washington, D.C.

[signed] Dennis Stevenson, President
[signed] Jane Chaffin, Vice President
[signed] Julie Yamaka, Secretary/Treasurer

Best wishes to Raymond Mosley, Director, and the staff at the Office of the Federal Register.

Funding Restrictions Impact Federal E-Gov, including E-rulemaking, Initiatives

Yesterday, Cary Coglianese, Chair of Harvard's Regulatory Policy Program, posted the following letter on the e-rulemaking listserv (see http://www.erulemaking.org/) from the co-chairs of the federal government's eRulemaking Executive Committee.

December 19, 2005

E-Rulemaking Executive Committee Members:

Recently-signed provisions of the FY06 Treasury/Transportation/HUD appropriations bill contain restrictions on government-wide funding of E-Government (E-Gov) Initiatives. This significant legislation requires agencies to inform and secure Congressional approval to fund E-Gov initiatives including eRulemaking. The Office of Management and Budget and the eRulemaking Program Management Office (PMO) are aware of this and other Congressional appropriations restrictions and are working to resolve them.

At the current rate of expenditures, the eRulemaking PMO available funding will expire in mid-February 2006. In response, as Co-Chairs of the eRulemaking Executive Committee and in conjunction and concurrence with the OMB E-Gov Administrator, we have decided to allocate remaining funds to operate and maintain the current Federal Docket Management System, Regulations.gov. This will ensure continued operations and service for federal agencies that have already implemented and use FDMS/Regulations.gov as well as millions of public users of the system. In addition, in light of the funding shortfall, eRulemaking will suspend all further agency implementation and development activities, effective beginning second quarter FY2006. As funding is approved and received, the PMO will resume agency implementation and system development activities to the extent that resources allow. The eRulemaking PMO will keep the eRulemaking Initiative partner agencies apprised of any future developments as information becomes available.

We recognize that this action will impact E-Gov implementation plans for several agencies. We will continue to work with those agencies affected by this decision and renegotiated new migration and implementation dates.

We regret that this decision had to be made but are doing so in consideration of the importance of maintaining functionality for all of our participating agencies and the user community. If you have any concerns or wish to discuss further please contact us at 202-564-6665 (Kimberly T. Nelson) and 202-395-5897 (Don Arbuckle). We look forward to our continued collaboration on this important government-wide initiative.

Sincerely,

Kimberly T. Nelson
Co-Chair, eRulemaking Executive Committee
Chief Information Officer and Assistant Administrator
Office of Environmental Information
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Donald R. Arbuckle
Co-Chair, eRulemaking Executive Committee
Deputy Administrator
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget

Dr. Coglianese then followed this letter with some contextual information. The ensuing exchange of E-mails has explored the reasons behind the Congressional funding restrictions. This exchange is helpful for those of us looking at rulemaking automation projects at the state level.

If you are not a member of the e-rulemaking listserv, and this issue interests you, you should sign up. To sign up, visit the e-rulemaking web site and follow the ListServ link.

UPDATE: See related article at OMB Watch.

Maryland's 2005 Incorporation by Reference Changes

Some time ago (like February 2005), Dennis Schnepfe informed ACR about Maryland's HB 1327, entitled "Code of Maryland Regulations, Maryland Register, and Contract Weekly - Incorporation by Reference of Laws and Documents". This bill changes the incorporation by reference provisions for regulations in Maryland. H.B. 1327 was signed on April 12, 2005. While an enrolled text is not available, the first and third reading texts are available and the "Documents" description indicates that no amendments were made. Information about this bill is available at http://mlis.state.md.us/2005rs/billfile/HB1327.htm.

GAO Electronic Rulemaking Report Released

Cary Coglianese posted the following information to Harvard's E-Rulemaking ListServ.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) today [10/11/2005] released the following report:
Electronic Rulemaking: Progress Made in Developing Centralized E-Rulemaking System. GAO-05-777, September 9.
http://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-05-777
Highlights - http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d05777high.pdf

Administrative Rules by RSS

Several states are using RSS to distribute information about state administrative rules. These states include: Delaware, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Utah. Delaware posts "The Current Monthly Register " in RSS. More information about Delaware feeds is available from http://www.state.de.us/gic/subscribe/services/rssnews.shtml. Rhode Island has developed a feed called "Recently Promulgated Regulations ". The Rhode Island eGovernment Exchange (REX) provides more information about available feeds at http://www.ri.gov/rex/feeds.php. Tennessee makes "Recently Promulgated Rules and Regulations " available. More information about Tennessee's use of RSS is available at http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/rss/index.html. Utah currently maintains four different feeds containing information about administrative rules available:

• "Utah Administrative Rules Open for Public Comment "
• "Utah Administrative Rules Emergency Rules in Effect "
• "Utah Administrative Rule Hearings "
• "Utah Administrative Rules Affecting State Government and Employees Open for Public Comment "

If you are aware of other states that distribute administrative rules information using RSS, please post a comment. UPDATE 8/31: The Virginia Code Commission makes the Virginia Register available by RSS. More information about the Virginia Register is available at http://legis.state.va.us/codecomm/register/issfiles.htm.

NCCUSL MSAPA Drafting Committee Fall 2005 Meeting

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) Model State Administrative Procedure Act (MSAPA) Drafting Committee has scheduled its fall meeting for October 7 through 9, 2005, in Arlington, VA. The NCCUSL web page describes the committee in the following terms:

This committee is revising the [1981] Model State Administrative Procedures Act, which provided procedures for promulgating administrative regulations and for adjudicating disputes before administrative bodies. A revision is necessary to update the act to recognize electronic communications and other state procedural innovations since the act was originally promulgated. Upon completion of its main charge, the committee will study the development of an administrative procedures act for use by interstate compact entities.

In its report to the NCCUSL Annual Meeting, held July 22 through 29, the committee identified the following issues for which it is seeking feedback:

KEY ISSUES

1. Should the Model State Administrative Procedure Act require interpretive and policy statements to be adopted as rules; and, if not, should there be a requirement that they be published?

2. If interpretive and policy statements are not rules, but are required to be published, should the Model State Administrative Procedure Act address the weight to be given to them on judicial review?

3. Should the Model State Administrative Procedure Act require prior agency decisions of first impression on legal issues to be adopted as rules; or, if not required to be adopted as rules, should there be a requirement that such decisions be indexed and published?

4. Should evidentiary hearings be required only when mandated by statute, constitution or other law, or should the Conference adopt the broader approach of the 1981 Model State Administrative Procedure Act that requires an evidentiary hearing in almost all instances where an order is to be issued by the agency?

5. With respect to post hearing ex parte communications between the agency decision maker and agency staff, what, if any, disclosure of the ex parte communication should be required to the parties? Also, what, if any, opportunity should be allowed for a party to respond to the disclosed communication?

OTHER ISSUES

6. Should cost-benefit analysis be required for all rules; or be limited to certain situations; and, if limited, under what criteria?

7. Should the Act provide for an administrative rules editor, with the power to edit, for the publication, compilation, indexing, and public inspection of rules or should the Act provide for a publisher with limited power to edit?

8. Should the Act contain a legislative veto power for agency rules?

9. Should the Act provide that, before a person who was not a party in an agency rulemaking proceeding seeks judicial review of a rule produced in that proceeding, that person must first petition the agency for rulemaking on the subject for which she seeks judicial review?
[See http://www.law.upenn.edu/bll/ulc/msapa/2005AMAdminReport.htm for the complete report.]

ACR members may contact Ken Hansen (801-538-3777) with input on these issues.

Virginia Administrative Law Conference

Professor John Gedid will be giving the keynote address that will open Virginia's annual Administrative Law Conference scheduled for Tuesday, November 1, 2005, at the Downtown Richmond Omni. Professor Gedid has been asked to talk about the work of the NCCUSL drafting committee presently working on changes to the Model Administrative Procedures Act. You may recall that Professor Gedid was part of a regulatory rules review panel presentation at the 2002 Providence, RI, summer conference, and later talked to ACR about the model APA drafting committee at the 2004 New Orleans summer conference.

Issues for Rulemakers

The ACR conferences are great. Lots of information and lots of issues to discuss. So far, two issues stand out for me. The first is referred to as versioning--specifically, providing historical versions of administrative codes. Colorado demonstrated their new rulemaking system which includes the capability to present a rule as it is in effect today, or any other day. Second, continuity planning is critically important. With the retirements that states will see from the ranks of ACR in the coming five to ten years, the states (we) need to have plans in place to train replacements. Most of the states have very small shops that make continuity planning essential.

Renting Movies More Important than Regulation?

Jim Willis, the Director of eGovernment for the Office of Secretary of State Matthew Brown (RI) and Technical Chair for the Government Open Code Collaborative, spoke at the ACR conference today. He gave a great presentation on the possibilities of RSS in the publication of government information. The following quote comes from Jim via the GOCC weblog.

It is simply unacceptable at this point in history that a citizen can use web services to track the movies he is renting, the weather around his house, and the books he's recently purchased but cannot as easily monitor data regarding the quality of his drinking water, legislation or regulations that will directly impact his work or personal life, what contracts are currently available to bid on for his state, or what crimes have recently occurred on his street.

NASS/ACR Summer Conference, July 22 - 25, 2005

The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) / Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) annual summer conference will be held July 22 through July 25, 2005, at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul, MN. As it becomes available, information about the conference will be posted on the NASS conference page. Information about the ACR program will be posted on the ACR home page.

Rulemaking is "Blawg of the Day"

In his Saturday, April 30 posting, Tom Mighell, author of "Inter Alia: An Internet Legal Research Weblog, Among Other Things", recognized "Rulemaking" as his "Blawg of the day". Thanks Tom. Blawg, variant spelling of Blog, is intended to recognize a blog with legal content.

NCCUSL MSAPA Drafting Committee Spring Meeting

The National Conference of Commissioners for Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) Model State Administrative Procedure Act (MSAPA) drafting committee met April 15 through April 17 in Philadelphia. The committee considered a second draft, primarily reviewing and making major changes to the core adjudication and judicial review articles. The committee discussed the rulemaking article at its meeting last fall. Therefore, this second draft contains changes that represent the committee's most current thinking about rulemaking. If ACR members have comments about the rulemaking provisions in the second draft, please contact Ken Hansen (801-538-3777). At the April meeting, some additional rulemaking issues surfaced as the committee discussed judicial review.

• In the Standing section (C5-106), the language providing "if the challenged agency action is a rule, a person subject to the rule" was removed as a criteria for standing, as it is encompassed by "a person otherwise aggrieved ... by the agency action."
• The committee discussed the implications of "aggrieved or adversely affected" as it appeared in the draft without the qualifying language from the 1981 MSAPA.
• In the Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies section (C5-107), Prof. Michael Asimow raised the concept of "issue exhaustion" in rulemaking. If an individual encounters an issue with a rule that was not considered by the agency during the rulemaking process, either directly by the agency or indirectly as the result of public comment, the individual should be required to raise the issue with the agency (by filing a petition for rulemaking -- see section C3-115) before the individual may take the issue (and the agency) to court.

The committee had two questions that ACR could help address. During the discussion of Section C5-108, Closed Record; Exception (changed to Agency Record; Exception), a question arose regarding how many states currently require an agency to maintain a rulemaking record. The committee is considering creating a new section, separate from C5-109, Scope of Review, for rulemaking. A question also came up about how many states have adopted the federal "hard look" doctrine (a la Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe, 401 U.S. 402 (1971)) stated on page 75 in paragraphs D and E. The committee will present an executive summary of the issues at the NCCUSL annual summer meeting in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, July 22-29, 2005. The MSAPA drafting committee will meet again this fall to review the entire draft.

Oregon's Regulatory Streamlining Initiative

About a week ago, my Google news alert directed me to an article at Bend.com. The article began with the following introduction:

Governor Ted Kulongoski has signed into law five measures approved by the Oregon Legislature to make it easier and less expensive for business owners to understand and meet state regulations. They are the first measures enacted out of a package of regulatory streamlining bills introduced at the direction of the governor.

This caught my attention. In 2003, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed Executive Order 03-01 requiring "state agencies to review their regulation of business activities and their regulatory processes to reduce the burden of regulation on business without compromising Oregon's standards and protections."

The order creates the Office of Regulatory Streamlining in the Department of Consumer and Business Services. They have an interesting web site with resources for agencies attempting to comply with the order.

RSS Tutorial Available

At the ACR Winter Meeting, we discussed Blogs/RSS and tried to give some ideas about possible applications for rules. However, we didn't have much time to provide background. Inter Alia blogs about an RSS tutorial created by Alex Barnett. The tutorial with Mr. Barnett's audio narrative, uses Flash to demonstrate downloading, installing, and setting up a news (RSS) aggregator (FeedDemon). Mr. Barnett even demonstrates some of the differences in ways that various feeds work. He also discusses why he uses RSS feeds. FeedDemon is available for a free trial; after that, a small charge. Other aggregators are available. We demonstrated two a the Winter Meeting: SharpReader and MyYahoo! MyYahoo! is an online aggregator for which you sign up and then may use free of charge. SharpReader is available as a downloadable client software. It is free of charge, works with Windows XP, but requires that you have installed .Net 1.1 . The SharpReader site explains that. Hope this helps.

LegalXHTML for Structured Legal Documents on the Web

Rory Perry has blogged about LegalXHTML. Makes me wonder how the discussion held in Washington D.C. on February 8 on an XML spec for rules went.

Spring NCCUSL MSAPA Drafting Committee Meeting Scheduled

The National Conference of Commissioners for Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) has scheduled its next drafting committee meeting for the Model State Administrative Procedures Act (MSAPA) for April 15 through 17, 2005. The meeting will be held in Philadelphia again.

ABA Admin. Law Section's Mid-Winter Meeting Program Available

The Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section of the American Bar Association has announced its program for the Bar's mid-winter meeting. This year, the ABA's mid-winter meeting is being held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Section has scheduled sessions for February 10 through 13, 2005. A PDF version of the program is available for download at http://www.abanet.org/adminlaw/ . The cost for the meeting varies depending on the number of sessions you plan to attend. Cost information is included in the program. ACR's own Kent Bishop has been involved with organizing the program.

Copyright of Public Records (FL Court Interpretation)

This decision of the Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal relating to copyright of public records may be of interest. In Microdecisions v. Skinner, the court rules that a county may not copyright GIS maps. State law determines whether agencies may claim copyright. Since public records law forbids demands for fees, licensing fees may not be charged for public records. The legislature has specifically permitted only certain categories of records to be copyrighted and GIS maps are not one of them. The mandate to make records available for the cost of reproduction "overrides a governmental agency's ability to claim copyright in its work unless the legislature has expressly authorized a public records exemption." http://www.2dca.org/opinion/December%2001,%202004/2D03-3346.pdf

ACR Winter Meeting Scheduled

The National Association of Secretaries of State(NASS) Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) winter meeting has been scheduled. The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill. ACR will hold its sessions Friday, February 4, Saturday, February 5, and Sunday, February 6. (NASS and NASED will continue their meetings on Monday, February 7.) NASS has information about the conference available on its web site. An agenda for the ACR sessions will be available soon.

E-Rulemaking Blog

Dr. Stuart Shulman, assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, announced this morning over the E-Rulemaking ListServ that he has created an E-rulemaking blog -- http://erulemaking.blogspot.com/.

E-rulemaking Resources

Earlier this week, a message was posted to the ACR ListServ with information that originally came from the E-rulemaking ListServ (Thanks Kevin). The post is an important one that has implications for all of us. Realizing that some ACR members might not be aware of some of these resources, I thought I'd pass along some links.

• Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, Regulatory Policy Program maintains the "E-Rulemaking Resource Website". The site includes news papers and reports, events, government documents, and links.
• One of the links points to Harvard's E-rulemaking ListServ.
• The University of Pittsburgh also has an "eRulemaking Website".
• The White House also has E-Rulemaking information on eGov.

Editing and Proofreading Conference

NCSL is hosting its first legislative editing and proofreading conference on October 8-9 in Madison, WI. Although this conference is designed for staff who primarily edit or proofread legislation, I sent June to attend. In Virginia, the type of editing we do to and the things we look for in regulations are quite similar to those things that our legislative editors look for when editing and proofreading bill drafts. States differ dramatically in the types of editing that can be performed on regulations--some states are practically given a free hand while others aren't even allowed to fix a typo. I thought it would be beneficial to check out the conference and will report back later.

Delaware Regs via RSS

RSS in Government (RSS) reports that Delaware has been busy creating RSS feeds.

The Current Monthly Register is the newsfeed equivalent of The Delaware Register of Regulations, a monthly publication of all proposed regulatory changes, general notices, and final regulations from our partners in the Legislature.

Looks like we have a conference session for D.C. Kudos, Jeff!

Update on Overtime Rules Issue

Jurist's Paper Chase reports that a "Senate Appropriations Committee approved a provision Wednesday that effectively blocks President Bush's proposed overtime rules."

RE: Congressional Action

I wondered how Congress was blocking the rules. You are right, Ken, the news reports did not explain how Congress was approaching it. Thanks for the information. I find that frequently the media does not understand how rule creation works. We have had problems here lately, where reporters gave out wrong information on the rulemaking process. In some intances it is clear they do not know what rules are or how they come about. Has anyone else experienced that? John

Congressional Action on Federal Overtime Rules

The Paper Chase reports that the U.S. House of Representatives has voted to "block overtime rules." I looked at this with interest because it sounded as though Congress might be using the Congressional Review Act again. However, the article is not clear about the method the House is using. The AP article makes it sound like this is an appropriations bill, not a resolution. See the Paper Chase article and the Washington Post article (free registration required to view articles) for more information. Other sources have indicated that this action is an amendment to the Labor, Health and Human Services , and Educations Appropriations Bill (H.R. 5006 -- specifically, see House amendment 734 entitled, "An amendment to prohibit the use of funds to enforce a Labor Department final rule which went into effect on August 23, 2004 regarding overtime protection....) . As one savy observer noted, a rider attached to an appropriations bill is much more difficult to defeat than a single-issue CRA resolultion of disapproval.

NCCUSL's MSAPA Revision Committee, 11/12-14/2004

The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL) Committee to Revise Model State Admin. Procedures Act has scheduled its next meeting for Nov 12-14, 2004, in Philadelphia, PA. This is the meeting about which Professor Gedid informed ACR at the New Orleans Conference. For meeting information, contact the Chicago NCCUSL office at 312-915-0195.

Compact Rulemaking at Admin. Law Section Midyear Meeting

The American Bar Association's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice has scheduled its midyear meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 9-15, 2005. At the meeting, one of the items to be discussed will be rulemaking and interstate compacts. As the time for the conference approaches, more details will be available at http://www.abanet.org/adminlaw/home.html. Update: According to Kent Bishop, our Interstate Compact Rules Guru, the sessions will most likely be scheduled on February 10-12. More details will follow.

Dates for the 2005 NASS/ACR Winter Meeting

FYI: The dates for the 2005 Winter Meeting are February 4 through 7, 2005. The conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency.

More Pictures

More pictures have been added to the 2004 Summer Conference web site (thanks Ken). The minutes of both business meetings are available from the ACR web page and the conference site. John

Summer Conference Web Site

The web site for the 2004 Summer Conference is now online. You can access it through the ACR web page at www.nass.or/acr/acr.html or directly at www.nmcpr.state.nm.us/acr. The web site contains copies of the presentations, pictures, and other material related to the conference. If you would like to share your conference pictures, send them to me and I will post them online. John Update: The ACR address is www.nass.org/acr/acr.html.

Welcome!

Welcome to rulemaking.blogspot.com! At the recent ACR conference in New Orleans, several of us discussed blogs and rss feeds. One of the ideas that came out of the meeting is that ACR should create a blog to allow us to share ideas among members of the organization. Hence, rulemaking.blogspot.com. This blog may be syndicated by subscribing to http://rulemaking.blogspot.com/atom.xml.