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Fifth U.S. Open Government National Action Plan
Commitment Tracker

Commitment:

Improve Public Engagement Related to Agency Regulatory Actions

Full Commitment Text OGP Commitment Page

Progress for this commitment is tracked based on the following sub-commitment(s). You can also view the full text of this commitment.

US0121.0	Over the next year, the Federal Government commits to supporting greater community engagement in the rulemaking process, including through its efforts to modernize the regulatory review process, through tools, guidance, and other resources.
Agency & Subagency	Executive Office of the President Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Sub-Commitment Status	Complete
February 2024 Progress	Progress Update: Consistent with the guidance on Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process released on July 19, 2023, agencies included information on their public participation efforts in the Federal Government’s biannual release of the Regulatory Agenda. OMB publicly highlighted particularly noteworthy instances of agency public participation efforts and continues to invite public feedback on this process. OIRA also issued and received public comment on draft guidance on how to improve OIRA’s process for meeting with members of the public regarding regulatory actions under OIRA review. Solicitation of public input included a more than three-hour listening session on May 4, 2023, to hear from stakeholders about the proposed guidance. Reflecting that feedback, OIRA issued final guidance on December 20, 2023, along with an explanation and response to input. Both documents describe a number of steps OIRA is taking to encourage feedback from a broad array of stakeholders through these meetings, including making it easier to request meetings through OIRA’s online portal; providing plain language information on OIRA’s website to help individuals prepare for these meetings; posting a video how-to guide (in English and a Spanish version by OIRA Administrator Richard Revesz) on how to request meetings; and offering periodic and accessible public trainings on effective participation in these meetings. Evidence: Blog on agency public participation efforts discussed in the 2023 Fall Regulatory Agenda - The 2023 Fall Regulatory Agenda, OMB, The White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2023/12/06/the-2023-fall-regulatory-agenda/ Blog on Promoting Public Engagement in OIRA’s Regulatory Review Process - Promoting Public Engagement in OIRA’s Regulatory Review Process, OMB, The White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-room/2023/12/20/promoting-public-engagement-in-regulatory-review-process/ Draft Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of the Executive Order of April 6, 2023 (Modernizing Regulatory Review) (Apr. 6, 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ModernizingEOSection2eDraftGuidance.pdf Hearing from You: How OIRA Meets with the Public, The White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/modernizing-regulatory-review/hearing-from-you-how-oira-meets-with-the-public/. Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of Executive Order 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review) (Dec. 20, 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Modernizing-EO-Section-2e-Guidance_FINAL.pdf Guidance Implementing Section 2(e) of Executive Order 14094 (Modernizing Regulatory Review): Explanation and Response to Public Input (Dec. 20, 2023), available at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/ERPI-Modernizing-EO-Section-2e-Guidance_FINAL.pdf Overview of Meetings on a Regulatory Action under Review with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (E.O. 12866 meetings), https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eo/eomHowTo VIDEO: E.O. 12866 Meeting Request How-To-Guide, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zxsAFsgJ3I VIDEO: Reuniones E.O. 12866: Una guía – Administrador Revesz, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dRt4XxZ78c&feature=youtu.be
August 2023 Progress	Progress for this commitment include a number of activities outlined below: (a) In February 2023, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget shared a summary of learnings and potential recommendations on broadening public engagement in the Federal regulatory process (link below). https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/broadening-public-engagement-in-the-federal-regulatory-process/ OIRA invited feedback on the recommendations and held a listening session on March 7, 2023. The feedback from those engagements can be found at the link below. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Public-Submitted-Material-Posting-Versions.zip OIRA published guidance drawing from that past engagement on Broadening Public Participation and Community Engagement in the Regulatory Process on July 19, 2023. That guidance can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Broadening-Public-Participation-and-Community-Engagement-in-the-Regulatory-Process.pdf (b) OMB is identifying promising practices across agency activities and lifting up efforts that can be replicated. This inventory is available for federal agency staff. (c) OIRA is also developing guidance on how OIRA staff schedule and conduct meetings with the public while regulations are under OIRA review. OIRA released draft guidance related to this effort here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/ModernizingEOSection2eDraftGuidance.pdf OIRA also invited public comments on the draft guidance, which can be viewed here: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/OMB-2022-0011/comments Last, OIRA held a public listening session to hear from members of the public on the proposed guidance for how OIRA staff schedule and conduct meetings with the public. Those videos are posted here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/information-regulatory-affairs/modernizing-regulatory-review/hearing-from-you-how-oira-meets-with-the-public/ OIRA is currently finalizing this draft guidance.