Length of Rule Reviews by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Curtis W. Copeland Final Report: December 2, 2013 This report was prepared for the consideration of the Administrative Conference of the United States. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the members of the Conference or its committees. ADMINISTRATIVE CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES Table of Contents I. Executive Summary ........................................................................................................4 II. Introduction .................................................................................................................5 A. Objectives, Scope, and Methodology ................................................................................. 8 III. Background .................................................................................................................9 A. OIRA and Executive Order 12291 ......................................................................................... 10 B. Executive Order 12866 ......................................................................................................... 13 1. Subsequent Executive Orders .......................................................................................... 14 2. OIRA Review Process ........................................................................................................ 15 3. Return Letters .................................................................................................................. 18 4. Extensions of Reviews ...................................................................................................... 19 IV. Timeliness of OIRA Regulatory Reviews ........................................................................ 21 A. EO 12291 Reviews ................................................................................................................ 21 Table 1: Average Length of OIRA Reviews Under EO 12291 .................................................... 22 B. EO 12866 Reviews ................................................................................................................ 23 C. The Length of OIRA Regulatory Reviews (1994 – 2013) ....................................................... 24 1. Average Review Times ..................................................................................................... 24 Table 2: Average EO 12866 Review Times Rose Sharply in 2012 and 2013 ............................... 25 Table 3: Average EO 12866 Review Times Varied by Department/Agency .............................. 27 2. Completed Reviews Exceeding 90 Days/Six Months/One Year........................................ 29 Table 4: Record Numbers of Completed OIRA Reviews Took More Than Six Months in 2012 and First Half of 2013 .................................................................................................................. 29 3. Ongoing OIRA Reviews Exceeding One Year .................................................................... 31 D. Recent Improvements in Timeliness of OIRA Reviews .......................................................... 32 Table 5: Number of Lengthy Ongoing Reviews Has Declined in 2013...................................... 33 Table 6: Percentage of Reviews Completed in More than Six Months Has Declined for Recent Submissions ......................................................................................................................... 34 E. Actual Review Times May Be Longer Than Data Indicate .................................................... 34 1. Informal Reviews .............................................................................................................. 35 2. Obtaining OIRA’s Permission to Submit Rules.................................................................. 38 3. Delay in OIRA Logging in Formal Submissions ................................................................. 40 V. Perspectives on Causes of Lengthy OIRA Reviews ........................................................... 41 A. Concerns About Controversial Rules .................................................................................... 41 B. OIRA Desk Officers and Management .................................................................................. 42 C. Definition of “Significant” .................................................................................................... 45 D. Reviews by Other Agencies or Offices .................................................................................. 46 E. Extensions and Deadlines ..................................................................................................... 48 F. Withdrawals and Returns ..................................................................................................... 49 G. OIRA Staffing Issues ............................................................................................................. 50 Table 7: OMB and OIRA FTE Staffing Authorizations: FY 2001 through FY2014 ....................... 51 VI. Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................ 52 A. Is A Strict Review Limit the Answer? .................................................................................... 54 2 B. Making Timeliness A Priority ................................................................................................ 55 C. Return Letters and Review Letters ........................................................................................ 57 D. Informal Reviews and Transparency .................................................................................... 59 E. Submitting Agencies ............................................................................................................. 60 F. Non-Submitting Agencies and Offices................................................................................... 61 G. Submission of Significant Rules to OIRA............................................................................... 61 H. OIRA Staffing ........................................................................................................................ 62 Environmental Defense Fund v. Thomas ................................................................................... 64 Paralyzed Veterans of America ................................................................................................. 65 Most Recent Completed OIRA Reviews Are Coded “Consistent With Change” ....................... 66 OIRA Return Letters Since 2002 ............................................................................................ 68 Number of Final Rules Published Declined in 2012 and the First Half of 2013 ......................... 69 Longest Reviews Completed During First Half of 2013 ........................................................... 71 Rules Under Review at OIRA for More Than One Year (as of June 30, 2013)............................ 74 3 I. Executive Summary Pursuant to requirements in Executive Order 12866, issued by President Clinton in September 1993 and still in effect, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) reviews hundreds of significant proposed and final rules before they are published in the Federal Register. The executive order states that OIRA’s reviews should be completed within 90 days, but says reviews may be extended by the Director of OMB for 30 days and at the request of the agency head. From 1994 through 2011, the average amount of time it took to complete a review was 50 days, and the highest average review time in any year was 62 days. However, in 2012, the average time for OIRA to complete reviews increased to 79 days, and in the first half of 2013, the average review time was 140 days – nearly three times the average for the period from 1994 through 2011. (Note: An increase in average review time for completed reviews in one year may reflect the closure of lengthy reviews that primarily occurred in previous years.) Some agencies were more affected by these increases in OIRA average review times than others, but by the first half of 2013, at least 17 departments and agencies had average review times of more than 90 days (up from only two departments in 2011). From 1994 through 2011, an average of fewer than 10 completed reviews per year (less than 2%) took more than six months; however, in the first half of 2013, 63 reviews (nearly 30%) took more than six months, and 27 (nearly 13%) took more than one year. Further, these statistics may understate the extent of the delays. According to senior employees in 11 departments and agencies (who were interviewed for this report anonymously and without indication of agency affiliation), OIRA has increasingly used “informal reviews” of rules prior to their formal submission, has required agencies to get OIRA approval before submitting rules, and has in some cases delayed recording the receipt of rules until some time after they were submitted by the agencies. (Note: The author discussed this report with OIRA officials, and the report reflects those discussions.) These senior agency employees provided a variety of perspectives as to why they believe OIRA review times had increased: (1) concerns by some in the Executive Office of the President (EOP) about the issuance of potentially costly or otherwise controversial rules during an election