Government Matters Articles

Ohio Proposes Strengthening Open Records Law

Officials in Ohio will soon introduce a bill to the state legislature that would improve the state's current open records laws, according to the Plain Dealer. This comes after a recent survey revealed the state complied with requests for records less than half the time. The new provisions would require elected officials to receive two hours of public records training and government offices to create records manuals. Judges could also fine those violating the law up to $1,000 a day. While these changes could greatly improve compliance with the laws, some believe it is not enough.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: Economy Shows Signs of Weakness under Pressure

Two recent economic reports on jobs and gross domestic product (GDP) indicate that the economy is showing some signs of weakness. The economy will begin to be under increasing pressure from higher oil prices, rising interest rates, and a ballooning deficit. Over the period from 2004 to 2009, the White House projects that $1,727 billion will be added to the federal debt -- and this projection does not include many policy proposals favored by the President and many in Congress which would increase the deficit even more.

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Mid-session Review Presents Misleading View of Nation's Finances

The White House's Office of Management and Budget recently (and belatedly) released its annual budgetary "Mid-Session Review," which attempts to put a positive spin on massive and worsening deficits, as well as the lowest level of revenue in nearly a half century.

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Budget Legislation Watch

Some good and bad news from Congress before the August recess.

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National Debt Limit Countdown

On August 2, Treasury Secretary John Snow urged Congress to raise the federal debt limit without delay, and warned that the limit will be reached by late September or early October.

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Court Rejects Cost Considerations in Clean Air Act ... Almost

In a confusing opinion, the D.C. Circuit has rejected a rule that would have allowed the use of two ozone-depleting chemicals in certain circumstances despite the designation of a non-depleting alternative. Although the decision was based in part on the improper consideration of costs to industry, the court nonetheless declined to make a definitive holding on the permissibility of cost considerations in the disputed section of the Clean Air Act. About the Case

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NIOSH To Move Deeper into the Bowels of Government

Five former NIOSH and MSHA administrators sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson last week to protest the Center for Disease Control's plan to move the National Institute for Occupational Safety deeper into the bureaucracy of the CDC. The CDC's new reorganization plan includes the decision to cluster NIOSH with several environmental health agencies into the Coordinating Center for Environmental Health, Injury Prevention, and Occupational Health, one of four coordinating centers that will report directly to the CDC administrator.

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NHTSA Changes Strategy from Safety Features to Crash Prevention

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced that it will drop its emphasis on making vehicles safer in crashes in favor of a new focus on "crash prevention." "I'd like to begin to focus on the event before the crash," NHTSA administrator Jeffrey Runge href="http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/nhtsa/announce/speeches/040511Runge/SAE-Present.pdf">told the Society of Automotive Engineers in Washington last May. "We may have plateaued out in terms of crashworthiness." Whereas NHTSA regulatory initiatives for the last 34 years have sought to boost

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Mad Cow Disease Regulation Fails to Protect U.S. Food Supply

Although food safety officials testified to a House subcommittee that two new regulations will enhance existing rules to make an effective firewall against mad cow disease, a new report reveals that the rules mainly protect the meat industry and are not strong enough to prevent contamination of the food supply. According to the report by the href="http://www.progressiveregulation.org">Center for Progressive Regulation, the centerpiece of the mad cow regulation is a so-called "zero tolerance policy" for the introduction into the food chain of certain cattle parts that are at

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OSHA Delays Worker Safety Action, Reopens PPE Rule for Comment

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reopened for comment a rule requiring employers to pay for personal protective equipment, "such as fall arrest systems, safety shoes, and protective gloves," that workers must currently purchase themselves, or do without (69 Fed. Reg. 41,851 (2004)). Although the rule, first proposed during the Clinton administration in March 1999 (64 Fed. Reg. 15,401), was open for public comments until June 1999, OSHA has let it languish on its long-term agenda for most of the past four years and has yet to announce any anticipated date

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