Interagency Regulatory Coordinating Group

1. Create an interagency Regulatory Coordinating Group to share
information and coordinate approaches to regulatory issues. (2)

The President should establish an interagency Regulatory Coordinating
Group (RCG) to provide agencies with a mechanism to share information
and coordinate approaches to regulatory issues. The regulatory review
executive order should create such a group and name the Administrator of
OIRA as the Chair. The Group should be composed of political appointees
or their designees from the key domestic regulatory agencies and certain
key White House advisors.

MISSION OF THE RCG. The RCG's mission should be to provide a forum for
agencies to discuss issues of common concern, to assist agencies in
finding more innovative approaches to regulation and better methods of
developing regulation, and to improve coordination of regulatory
policies. Meetings of the RCG should allow high-level regulators to
discuss specific problems they are confronting and seek advice from
similarly situated peers.[Endnote 18] The RCG should also decide what
issues the Group should address and, as needed, establish task forces or
working groups (including identifying a lead agency, designating which
agencies and types of representatives should participate, and setting a
goal for the group).

The RCG could also be used as a forum to identify areas requiring
coordination of two or more agencies on program development (similar to
the joint efforts now underway on lead and pesticides). However, the RCG
should not necessarily oversee this coordination or resolve substantive
conflicts. Once the area and relevant agencies have been identified, the
affected agencies should establish the proper structure for coordination
and would not necessarily report back to the RCG.

STRUCTURE OF THE RCG. The RCG itself needs to be composed of political
appointees or their designees.  Without high level support and
direction, agency staff would be unlikely to spend the necessary time on
RCG projects. Only political appointees or their designees can speak
authoritatively for each agency, decide on the issues to which the
agencies will commit resources, reach consensus on policies coming from
the working groups, and direct implementation of recommendations.

The RCG should accomplish most of its work by acting as an umbrella
organization with task forces or working groups addressing specific
issues. The task forces could be political appointees or career staff or
both, depending on the goal of the task force.  Representatives from
different levels and disciplines within the agencies should needed to
address different tasks. For some issues, it might be best for working
groups to present a consensus view. In other situations, the best result
might be a full statement of opposing views with the points of
contention highlighted.

The primary staff work for the RCG should be done by agency staffs in
the task force or work group structure. This would allow agency experts
who deal with a specific issue on a routine basis to compare notes with
experts from other agencies. Resolution of scientific issues, for
example, is done better by scientists who can critique each other's
work.  Similarly, improving agency/congressional relationships would
probably best be handled by a task force of agency liaisons to Congress.

ISSUES FOR THE RCG. The RCG's tasks should include the following:

--Actively encouraging the use of innovative approaches to regulation.
It should oversee the development of the Deskbook on Regulatory Design
and identify innovative regulators from the agencies who can serve as
resources for other regulators to contact for assistance in developing
innovative approaches.[Endnote 19] An RCG group should also work with
Congress to improve understanding of the merits and limits of innovative
approaches.

--Considering substantive policy areas that are in need of coordination
(e.g., risk prioritization, valuation of lives saved or injuries
avoided, measurement of future costs or benefits, valuation of
eco-systems, and cost-benefit analysis).

--Considering ways to improve the rulemaking process (e.g., increasing
public participation, using information technology, removing procedural
barriers, and improving agency/ congressional relationships).

--Looking at ways for agencies to help people comply with regulations
and to increase compliance through innovative means, such as sampling
and auditing.


Endnotes

18. Members of the Regulatory Council reported that they found the
Regulatory Council a very useful way to get advice from people in
similar situations.

19. The Regulatory Coordinating Group (RCG) should coordinate with the
Program Design Office recommended in the report Rethinking Program
Design. (See "DES01:  Activate Program Design as a Formal Discipline.")

20. One hindrance to compliance is that the government regulates and
organizes its regulations by subject area (e.g., labor, equal employment
opportunity, highway safety, environmental protection) rather than by
industry sector (e.g., gas stations, chemical companies, auto
companies).  Currently, if a small business wants to find out what
regulations govern its actions, it must review each of the substantive
parts of the multivolume Code of Federal Regulations to determine its
obligations (although there may be private services that compile this
information more usefully). It would be easier for the small business if
there were an industry- specific listing of what regulations apply.
Compiling such a listing and making it useful may be a very complicated
proposition. It might be easier to have an office that helps businesses
wend their way through the regulatory maze. See, e.g., the NPR report
Environmental Protection Agency, "EPA 02:  Streamline EPA's Permit
Program to Improve Agency Efficiency and Customer Service." The RCG
should consider a pilot program to determine what is feasible. The RCG
should also look at other ways to coordinate regulation by looking at
regulation from the regulated entity's perspective. RCG should consider
whether it would be useful to compile planned regulations by industry
sector, as the Regulatory Council did for the auto industry.  Also, see
"REG02: Encourage More Innovative Approaches To Regulation."