Lieberman unveils bill to stabilize funding for e-rule-making

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., on Thursday announced a bipartisan bill that for the first time would require stable funding for technology aimed at letting the general public in on the arcane process of shaping federal regulations -- e-rule-making. Rules are what the executive branch uses to put Congress' words into action by, for example, prohibiting health insurance companies from denying coverage to children because of a pre-existing condition.

Most people might not know or care about proposed rules, or their right to oppose such draft regulations through open comment periods. The 2002 E-Government Act, which Lieberman wrote, attempted to change that by mandating that agencies post rules on a searchable website, Regulations.gov. But the site is handicapped by underlying structural problems that Lieberman's new bill could fix, open government advocates said on Thursday.

"Regulations.gov has made some very useful incremental improvements in the last couple of years, but making the move to a second-generation rule-making 2.0 system means fundamental change," said Cynthia Farina, a Cornell University law professor who wrote a 2008 American Bar Association committee report that laid the groundwork for this week's legislation, the 2010 E-Rule-making Act (S. 3961). "And that kind of change requires addressing an interrelated set of issues."

The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, would require a $10 million line item in the annual budget for Regulations.gov. Currently, agencies that want to use the site fund it based on the number of documents they file and the services they want. The bill also would provide $1 million a year to upgrade the system's architecture.

The measure requires that rule-making data be formatted uniformly so that Internet users and agencies can easily retrieve and analyze materials. In addition, it stipulates improvements to the overall consistency of the rule-tracking system.

Government transparency groups have long complained that people cannot find regulations online when they enter key words or tracking codes because agencies do not use the same naming conventions.

"Congress recently passed monumental legislation, such as health care and financial reform, that will be more closely defined by the regulatory process," said Lieberman, chairman of the Homeland Security and Government Reform Committee. "It is essential that that process is efficient, transparent and easily understood by the American public...Electronic rulemaking has improved tremendously, particularly with the refinement and strengthening of the Web site Regulations.gov. But much more needs to be done."

Farina, a principal researcher with the Cornell e-Rule-Making Initiative, said the new bill would give agencies and outside organizations the resources and flexibility to use external applications for engaging the public in the rule-making process.

The Transportation Department recently collaborated on a Cornell-funded project to use social media for gathering comments from people who would not ordinarily follow publication of documents in the Federal Register on the proposal to ban texting while driving commercial trucks.

"Better rule-making information and participation is a good government issue that members of both parties should be able to get behind," Farina said.

OMB Watch, a government accountability group, said the measure has the potential to transform rule-making into a more open process.

"Agencies are required to solicit public opinion," said Matt Madia, a regulatory policy analyst at OMB Watch. "That's a meaningless requirement unless the public is able to do so in an easy way and a way that meets their expectations for the 21st century -- and in a way that allows them to improve regulatory outcomes... The fact that this bill would require a specific line item makes the funding more reliable, and it allows agencies to do more."