MSU Law Professors Influence White House Rulemaking Guidance
Call for Greater Public and Community Participation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

East Lansing, MI, (September 5, 2023) – MSU College of Law heavily contributed to recent White House Guidance issued to Federal agencies that encourages broadening public and community engagement in the regulatory process. A comprehensive report prepared by MSU Law Professors Michael Sant'Ambrogio and Glen Staszewski called for increased opportunities to involve the public when Federal agencies create new regulations. The report provided the foundation for the new White House Guidance.

Professors Sant’Ambrogio and Staszewski’s Report, “Public Engagement with Agency Rulemaking,” emphasizes the importance of meaningful and balanced public participation in Federal rulemakings. Sophisticated stakeholders, including industry groups and professional associations, often dominate the rulemaking process, while most regulatory beneficiaries, smaller regulated entities, state, local, and tribal governments, and citizens with practical knowledge of the issues rarely participate. This can skew regulations in favor of well-resourced interests. The professors’ 180-page report presents best practices and recommendations for giving frequently absent stakeholders – including interested citizens and community groups – a greater ability to share their opinions about new regulations.

“The absence of many stakeholders from the regulatory process can undermine the goals of public participation in rulemaking,” said Professors Sant’Ambrogio and Staszewski in summarizing the significance of ensuring greater engagement by the public in the report’s introduction. “First, it can undermine the effectiveness of regulations. Second, barriers to broad and meaningful public participation in agency rulemaking can weaken democratic accountability and legitimacy.”

Commissioned by the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), the MSU College of Law scholars’ report strongly influenced the White House Guidance issued in a memorandum to all Federal agencies by Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) Administrator Richard Revesz. An ACUS news release highlights OIRA’s reliance on the MSU Law Professors’ Report, including OIRA’s endorsement of recommendations encouraging publication on agency websites of public regulatory engagement plans – identifying opportunities for the public to participate.

The White House Guidance also “encourages agencies to ensure their policies on communication and outreach for notice-and-comment ‘recognize the importance of early engagement and transparency’ and ‘support proactive outreach,’ especially prior to issuing proposed rules.” Professors Sant’Ambrogio and Staszewski advocated early engagement with the public in the development of regulatory policies in their 2021 article in Washington University Law Review, “Democratizing Rule Development.”  Enhancing public engagement early in the regulatory process “would not only improve the quality and legitimacy of agency rules, it could also help to build a culture of civic participation to address the ailing health of our American democracy.”