On April 26, federal agencies published their updated rulemaking agendas outlining past, present, and future regulations. The agendas provide insight into the Obama administration's plans and expectations in the coming months.

Each spring and fall, the executive branch publishes the Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions, commonly called the Unified Agenda. The agenda includes the individual rulemaking agendas for all executive branch agencies, including independent commissions. Agencies post online brief descriptions of their rules and projected timetables for milestones and completion. The agendas include proposed rules, final rules, recently completed rules, and long-term actions.

EPA

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) led all individual agencies with 342 agenda items. EPA added 43 new entries since its last agenda was published. Among them are a proposal to limit greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty vehicles, an update to the Chemicals of Concern list to include the consumer product chemicals bisphenol-A and phthalates, and proposed standards for the use of nanoscale materials.

EPA's agenda also indicates the agency is on track to finalize new greenhouse gas regulations for stationary sources such as factories and refineries. The agency expects to issue a final rule in May. A draft of the final rule was sent to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review on April 20. EPA announced in April new standards to limit greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, and a companion rule for stationary sources has been expected.

EPA also says it will continue to update national air quality standards. EPA expects to issue final rules strengthening regulation of sulfur dioxide and ozone, or smog, in June and September, respectively. In November, EPA will consider whether to tighten controls of carbon monoxide and will review existing regulations for particulate matter in December. EPA has said it will review, and revise if necessary, by the end of 2011 the standards for all six major air pollutants (sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and lead) covered under the Clean Air Act.

Department of Labor

The Department of Labor has placed several new initiatives on its rulemaking agenda. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced its intent to launch the Injury and Illness Prevention Program which, if finalized, will require employers to maintain and follow safety plans that incorporate best practices and aim to protect workers from hazards they may face on the job. The program would be a departure from the hazard-by-hazard approach the agency has traditionally taken.

The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) is planning a rule to address a major procedural flaw that has drawn attention in the wake of the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 workers in April. The agency will attempt to close a loophole whereby mine operators keep themselves off MSHA's pattern-of-violations list by challenging safety violations.

The Labor Department does not expect to finish work on many high-profile rules in 2010. For example, an OSHA proposal to limit workers' exposure to silica dust is not expected until February 2011. The rule has been on the agency's agenda since 1997. MSHA projects it will propose the new pattern-of-violations rule in January 2011.

David Michaels, the head of OSHA, acknowledged that many rules, particularly exposure standards, take too long to complete. "There are so many hoops we go through with every standard," Michaels said, referring to both public participation requirements and analytical requirements such as risk assessments. "We are working very hard to move [standards] more quickly," Michaels said.

Seth Harris, the Deputy Secretary for Labor, said that the Labor Department will take the timetables in agencies' agendas more seriously than it has in the past. Harris said the agencies should consider their agendas "a production schedule," adding, "I'm holding them accountable for meeting their deadlines." Michaels and Harris spoke April 29 at an event at the Center for American Progress where the department's agenda was discussed.

The agenda, though broad in scope and varied in issues, reflects the Labor Department's new philosophy of "plan, prevent, protect," Harris said. "Plan, prevent, protect aims to change the calculus so that employers and other entities regulated by the Labor Department will take responsibility for employment law compliance." The philosophy is intended in part to counter the "catch me if you can" attitude some employers have, in which they view workplace law violations as a cost of doing business, he said.

Other Agencies

The Department of Transportation (DOT) faces similar challenges. DOT's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it will propose in December new regulations for accelerator control systems, which could potentially address the unintended acceleration defect that caused Toyota to recall millions of vehicles earlier in 2010. However, the rule has been on NHTSA's agenda since 2008. NHTSA is also behind schedule on a rule to create a 10-year-old test dummy needed to develop additional child restraint regulations. Congress directed the agency in 2002 to improve car safety for children weighing more than 50 pounds.

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for meat and poultry safety, added no new rules to its agenda. The agency says it will propose or finalize 12 new rules in the next few months. However, FSIS has already missed target dates for most of those rules, based on timetables in past agendas. FSIS is currently operating without a Senate-confirmed head, possibly complicating efforts to write new rules.

Some agencies' agendas reflect a focus on specific issues or problems confronting those agencies. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), part of the Department of Health and Human Services, will direct much of its rulemaking capacity toward implementing the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act signed into law in 2009. The law gives FDA jurisdiction over tobacco for the first time. FDA added six new tobacco-related rules to its agenda. The agency expects to issue this summer proposals on cigars and smokeless tobacco products and to propose in November new regulations for cigarette pack warning labels.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) will continue to set standards under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the product safety overhaul Congress passed in 2008 largely aimed at protecting children. The act set a number of deadlines for new rules and programs. In the coming months, CPSC's commissioners will make final decisions on infant walker safety standards and take steps necessary to create an online database where the public can file complaints and incident reports about potentially dangerous products.

The Department of Energy (DOE) continues to update energy efficiency standards for appliances and other consumer products. DOE will soon propose energy efficiency standards for refrigerators and home furnaces. In 2010, DOE has already finalized new efficiency standards for small motors and for commercial clothes washers. The agenda includes several new items, including an energy conservation standard for televisions, expected to be proposed in December 2012.

Historically, the agenda has not been a useful tool. Agencies often miss timelines and milestones, and agencies have been subjected to long procedural delays due to the complexity of the regulatory process. However, the agenda can be a useful planning and accountability tool to measure the Obama administration's efforts to solve long-neglected health and safety problems if, as Labor's Harris suggests, it is used more as "a production schedule."

The entire Spring 2010 Unified Agenda is available at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain. The next Unified Agenda is due to be published in October.