ARSA has recently submitted comments on a draft bulletin, issued by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), concerning the issuing of guidance by Federal agencies. The bulletin includes policies and procedures for agencies to develop, issue and use guidance documents.

OMB has been particularly concerned that agency guidance practices should be more transparent, consistent and accountable. Because guidance documents often do not receive the benefit of careful consideration accorded under the procedures for creating regulations, this bulletin stresses that agencies should follow established and effective procedures in developing guidance. This will help ensure that Federal agencies do not engage in rulemaking through guidance.

In its comments, ARSA thanked the OMB for issuing such an important bulletin, and cited examples where the FAA has used guidance documents as rulemaking. Additionally, ARSA made several suggestions which, if adopted, will increase the OMB’s ability to review guidance documents and make them more easily available to the public. These revisions would force agencies to identify affected parties even if documents are labeled as “internal.”

To download a .pdf copy of ARSA’s comments, Click here.

To download a .pdf copy of the OMB draft bulletin, Click here.

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