For some time, I’ve been suggesting the creation of a national public participation calendar and project directory as a key component of the Open Government Directive:
- May 2009: Open Government Dialogue: “Create an Open Government Project Directory and Knowledge Base”
- January 2010: Open Government Needs Public Participation Calendars
Based on this post on NextGov, it looks like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving in that direction: EPA Web site paving the way to transparency
As more agencies deploy online score cards that publicly chart the progress of specific missions, the Environmental Protection Agency’s new Web site for tracking rulemaking could be a model, some government transparency activists say.EPA launched its site, the Rulemaking Gateway, on Thursday to inform the public of the status of high-priority regulatory actions, such as proposals to control greenhouse gas emissions in heavy-duty vehicles and revise vehicle fuel economy labels.[...]EPA has committed to releasing rulemaking plans earlier than in the past. As soon as an agency regulatory policy officer determines it is appropriate to start developing a rule, information will be posted on the gateway, officials said. A regulation could appear on the site months or even years before a file is created on the governmentwide rule-tracking site Regulations.gov.[...]The gateway is tightly tied to Regulations.gov to increase public participation in the rulemaking process, said Madia, a federal regulatory policy analyst at the group.[...]The EPA Web site will show updated proposals monthly, as decisions are made. Time-sensitive information, such as announcements about public meetings, will be refreshed daily.
You can check out EPA’s new Rulemaking Gateway here.
Things are starting to look really interesting…
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I’m sorry, Tim, but this is set up “bass-ackwards”.
Instead of EPA informing me what I want to know, it is informing me about what IT is doing.
I should be able to set up a profile and only get those things that interest ME.
As it is, I can sign up and EPA sends me EVERY single fricking rulemaking that it is doing!
And, even though I am an environmental engineer, AND a former federal bureaucrat who is very much into rulemaking, I do NOT want to be informed of every fricking thing that the EPA is doing!
Things need to be customizable so that each person can be alerted to what he or she wants, not the FIREHOSE of information that comes out of ALL federal agencies every single day.
Try browsing through the Federal Register every day and you will see what I mean. I did that, with hard-copy, in the 1980s, so why should it be easier, 25 years later, reading it on a screen?