S. Hrg. 102-1135 THE ROLE OF THE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVENESS IN REGULATORY REVIEW HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON ONE HUNDRED SECOND CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON S. 1942 TO PROVIDE FOR PROCEDURES FOR THE REVIEW OF FEDERAL OCTOBER 24, 1991 THE ROLE OF THE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVENESS IN REGULATORY REVIEW NOVEMBER 15, 1991 SECRECY OR SUNSHINE? PRESIDENTIAL REGULATORY REVIEW 66-471 Printed for the use of the Committee on Governmental Affairs U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1993 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 Leonard Weiss, Staff Director David Plocher, Counsel Sebastian O'Kelly, Staff Assistant Franklin G. Polk, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel (II) Frank Mirer, Director of Health and Safety, United Auto Workers.. David Doniger, Senior Attorney, Natural Resources Defense Council. Harold Bruff, University of Texas School of Law... Katherine Meyer, Of Counsel, Harmon, Curran, Gallagher, Spielberg James B. MacRae, Jr., Acting Administrator and Deputy Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Robert V. Percival, Assistant Professor of Law, and Director, Environmental Law Program, University of Maryland School of Law. Prepared statements of witnesses in order of appearance... Letter with enclosures dated May 15, 1992 to Senator Glenn from James B. MacRae, Jr., Acting Administrator and Deputy Administrator, Office of Letter dated April 23, 1991 to Senator Glenn from Vice President Quayle...... Letter dated April 25, 1991 to Senator Glenn from Allan B. Hubbard, Execu- Letter dated November 12, 1991 to Senator Glenn from Senator Chafee.......... Letter dated November 22, 1991 to Senator Glenn from W. Lee Rawls, Assist- Legal and Historic Precedent Supporting Public Disclosure and Accountabil- ity Provisions in S. 1942, The Regulatory Review Sunshine Act of 1991- Congressional Research Service...... Review of Statutes Controlling Administrative Discretion, Barring Agencies from Creating "Secret Law," and Preserving Procedural Regularity Officer Accountability, and Administrative Openness Congressional Research Statement of Professor Margaret Gilhooley, Seton Hall Law School. Katherine Anne Meyer v. George Bush-Civil Action No. 88-3112. Letter dated December 10, 1991 to James MacRae from Senator Glenn......... Letter dated January 8, 1992 to Senator Glenn from James B. MacRae, Jr., Acting Administrator and Deputy Administrator, Office of Information and THE ROLE OF THE COUNCIL ON COMPETITIVENESS IN REGULATORY REVIEW THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1991 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:40 a.m., in room SD-342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. John Glenn, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. Present: Senators Glenn, Levin, Kohl, and Lieberman. Chairman GLENN. The hearing will come to order. Before I give my statement, I was doing some rewriting on it this morning, and copies of itwill be available at the press table a little bit later after they have a chance to print the thing up. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR GLENN Chairman GLENN. This morning we examine the role of the Council on Competitiveness in reviewing Federal regulations. The past ten years the Governmental Affairs Committee has followed the development of the OMB regulatory review process created by Executive Orders 12291 and 12498 and operated by OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, usually called OIRA. Now we have been concerned all through these years about balance, and by balance I mean the economic impact. I mean the impact on consumers, the impact on business and on manufacturing, all of which are a part of international competitiveness, if you will, in addition to matters of public health and safety and matters involving the environment. I think you have to consider all of those things when considering balance in the regulatory process. Now it is a complicated process and must consider, weigh, and make decisions among quite disparate views of many special interests, all claiming the public good as their mandate. This Committee has often questioned OMB officials about that process. We have also heard frequent testimony about the problems it has created: ex parte communications, undue delay, regulatory decisions unsupported by an agency rulemaking record. Finally, we have considered several legislative proposals to remedy these problems. It is with some concern, therefore, that we convene today to hear about another layer of regulatory review, that is the regulatory review activities of the President's Council on Competitiveness chaired by the Vice President. In the last year, the Council has emerged as both a supervisor of OMB regulatory review and as a regulatory reviewer in its own right. Today we hope to shed some |