Develop Specifications for Rulemaking Petitions

3. Develop specifications for rulemaking petitions. (1)

The heads of regulatory agencies should issue regulations specifying
what must be in petitions for rulemaking and describing the process for
filing them.[Endnote 18] Such regulations should explain that detailed
petitions, complete with a text of a proposed rule and underlying
analyses, may help the agency respond to the petition more quickly.
Sufficiently detailed petitions may form a basis for a notice of
proposed rulemaking. After a public comment period, the agency could
then either withdraw the proposal or modify it as necessary and adopt it
as a final rule.[Endnote 19]

Endnotes

18. Administrative Conference of the United States, Recommendation 86-6,
"Petitions for Rulemaking," 1 C.F.R.   305.86-6.

19. In setting up such procedures, care must be taken not to turn over
to private parties the governmental functions of setting the agency's
agenda and analyzing rules. The regulations should ensure that the
agency's decision to withdraw a proposal would not be subject to
additional judicial review merely because the agency has invited
rulemaking petitions.