OMB Issues Rulemaking Restrictions

From Len Savage:

OMB just issued M07-13
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-13.pdf
Which follows on M07-07
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/memoranda/fy2007/m07-07.pdf
and EO13422
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/inforeg/eo12866/fr_notice_eo12866_012307.pdf

All of this is intended to curtail agencies regulating through opinion letters rather than notice-and-comment rulemaking.This is germane in that: ATF opinion letters have been contradicting themselves frequently.

Len adds:

I love this part:

"Experience has shown, however, that guidance documents [ATF determinations] also may be poorly designed or improperly implemented. At the same time, guidance documents may not receive the benefit of careful consideration accorded under the procedures for regulatory development and review.4 These procedures include: (1) internal agency review by a senior agency official; (2) public participation, [Akins Ruling...not] including notice and comment under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA)"

Gee, do think a written set of testing procedures qualifies as a "guidance document"?

This is the Executive Branch documenting the fact there are problems, and stipulating policy that is not being upheld by ATF. This could do some serious damage both in Federal Court and Court of public opinion.

"The phenomenon we see in this case is familiar. Congress passes a broadly worded statute. The agency follows with regulations containing broad language, open-ended phrases, ambiguous standards and the like. Then as years pass, the agency issues circulars or guidance or memoranda, explaining, interpreting, defining and often expanding the commands in regulations. One guidance document may yield another and then another and so on. Several words in a regulation may spawn hundreds of pages of text as the agency offers more and more detail regarding what its regulations demand of regulated entities. Law is made, without notice and comment, without public participation, and without publication in the Federal Register or the Code of Federal Regulations."

Yupp, they know it is happening....

David Hardy has more.