Regulatory Flexibility Act: Agencies' Use of the October 1997 Unified Agenda Often Did Not Satisfy Notification Requirements

The Regulatory Information Service Center contacted agencies with section 610 entries in the Unified Agenda and encouraged them to improve their compliance with the statute. The Center also changed the form agencies submit to differentiate between upcoming/ongoing reviews and reviews that are completed, and is continuing to work with the agencies. In January 1999, the Acting Administrator of OIRA issued a memorandum for regulatory policy officers that, in part, reminded agencies of the requirements in section 610(c), and stating that the agencies "should include in your agenda entries a brief description of each rule and the need for, and legal basis of, such rule. Also, you should 'invite public comment upon the rule' in your agency's preamble to the Agenda. In July 1999, the OIRA Administrator included a section in his guidelines for the Unified Agenda noting the options that agencies had for identifying their section 610 reviews (e.g., "completion of a section 610 review" and "rulemaking resulting from a section 610 review"), and cautioning the agencies that the information provided should apply to the activity being reported, not to the underlying rule. In both the January and July memorandums, OIRA cited GAO's reports on section 610.