All News Releases By Date

 

Regulations.gov to Transform U.S. Rulemaking Process and Save Nearly $100 Million -- New E-Democracy Web Site First Step in Improving the Quality of Rulemaking Decisions

Release Date: 01/23/2003
Contact Information:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2003-03
January 23, 2003

Washington, D.C. (01/23/03) –The Administration today launched Regulations.gov, a new online rulemaking Web site, that will make the federal rulemaking process more accessible and enable citizens and small businessesto quickly access and comment on hundreds of open proposed rules from all federal agencies. This consolidation is estimated to save $94 million by creating a single system for the entire federal government.

“Today technology throws open the doors of a government relationship to every American with an opinion to express. E-Rulemaking will democratize an often closed process and enable every interested citizen to participate in shaping the rules which affect us all,” said OMB Director Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr.

“E-Rulemaking will allow citizens to participate actively by enabling them to be involved in federal rulemaking on their own terms at a location and time of their choice. This initiative will help assure the public that they have a role in making regulatory decisions and that it can be done in a more timely and efficient manner,” said EPA Deputy Administrator Linda Fisher.

“I applaud the Bush Administration for establishing another vehicle to help small business become aware, understand and voice our comments on pending regulations. This is certainly a pro-active measure,” said Linda Aerni CEO of Digital Gaming Solutions, Inc. and Community Internet Systems, Inc.

One of the first e-democracy sites, Regulations.gov, provides the American people unprecedented access to the rulemaking process and enables them to participate in decisions that affect their lives.Trends show that the American public is interested in becoming involved in the rulemaking process on-line. In 1997, DOT conducted 155 rulemaking actions that generated about 3,000 public comments. In 2000, the agency received 63,000 public comments on fewer rules after accepting comments on-line.

Regulations.gov provides a one-stop point of entry for citizens to comment on open rules from all agencies via e-mail. Until now the public comment process was difficult to use and lacked transparency. Citizens needed to know the agency responsible for developing the rule in order to view the relevant materials on-line and generally needed to comment in writing.

Regulations.gov is the first step of the E-Rulemaking initiative that will build an integrated and cost-effective regulatory management system to ensure efficiency, economies of scale and consistency for federal rulemaking process.

E-Government is an integral part of the President’s Management Agenda to make it easier for citizens and businesses to interact with the government, save taxpayer dollars and streamline citizen-to-government transactions. A copy of the President’s E-government strategy, which includes information on each of the E-Government Initiatives, is available on the OMB Web site at www.omb.gov.

For more information, please contact OMB Communications at (202) 395-7254.