DOT Seeks Comments on Existing Regulations as Part of President's Review
The Department of Transportation is seeking comments by April 1, 2011 on a review it is conducting of its existing regulations to evaluate their continued validity and determine whether they are crafted effectively to solve current problems.
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The review is part of the President’s new Regulatory Strategy announced in January 2011 to improve regulation and regulatory review. Among other things, this strategy directed agency heads to review existing significant rules to determine if they are outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 01/19/11 news, 11011915, for BP summary.)
Seeks Comments on How to Conduct Review, Suggested Rules to Consider
Therefore, DOT invites the public to participate in a comment process designed to help it ensure that it has a plan for analyzing existing significant rules to determine whether they should be modified, streamlined, expanded, or repealed and identify specific rules that may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient, or excessively burdensome.
Method of review, criteria for selection. First, DOT seeks comments on how it should devise a preliminary plan, with a defined method and schedule, for identifying certain significant rules that may be obsolete, unnecessary, unjustified, excessively burdensome, or counterproductive. It is particularly interested in the public’s views about how well its current processes for reviewing regulations function and how those processes might be expanded or otherwise adapted. It is also interested in factors that it should consider in setting priorities and selecting rules for review.
Candidate list of rules. DOT intends for its preliminary plan to include an initial list of candidate rules for review. Therefore, it also solicits suggestions for specific rules that should be on that list, focusing on those that have demonstrated deficiencies. Comments will be most useful if there are data and experience under the rule available to ascertain the rule’s actual impact. For that reason, DOT encourages the public to emphasize those rules that have been in effect for a sufficient amount of time to warrant a fair evaluation. Furthermore, the public should focus on rule changes that will achieve a broad public impact, rather than an individual personal or corporate benefit.
Will Hold Public Meeting to Consider Comments
The Department also will hold a public meeting to discuss and consider comments from members of the public.
DOT Contact - Neil Eisner (202)366-4723. E-mail: neil.eisner@dot.gov
(FR Pub 02/15/11, D/N DOT-OST-2011-0025)