OMB has told agencies that as the Obama administration draws to a close over the next year, they should stick to their previously announced schedules of planned rule-making, a move that could help head off charges of “midnight rulemaking.”
A memo from OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs says that agencies should “adhere closely” to dates set in the fall 2015 Regulatory Plan and Agenda and notify OMB promptly if they wish to change those dates, “which were established to ensure that regulations continue to benefit from adequate public scrutiny and interagency review.”
Agencies “should strive to complete their highest priority rulemakings by the summer of 2016 to avoid an end-of-year scramble that has the potential to lower the quality of regulations that OIRA receives for review and to tax the resources available for interagency review,” it says.
Should agencies need to react to new legislation or unforeseen events, OMB will “maintain its normal processes and its normally applicable standards of review through the end of the administration.” That includes determining if proposed rules are significant enough to warrant formal interagency review.
It added that agencies “can best ensure timely review of their significant rules by providing OIRA with advance notice of upcoming submissions, and by making sure that all rule submission packages are well-drafted, thorough, and complete.”
