OMB Publishes Spring 2014 Unified Agenda

Last week the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) published the latest version of the Unified Agenda. This is supposed to be a list of all of the Administration’s currently planned rulemaking activities. This is supposed to be done twice a year and has traditionally been done in the ‘Spring’ and ‘Fall’, though those terms bear only passing resemblance to calendar terminology. The last update was published in November of last year.

The table below provides a listing of the DHS rulemakings listed in the Spring Unified Agenda that will be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

OS	Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)	1601-AA69	Pre-Rule
OS	Petitions for Rulemaking, Amendment, or Repeal	1601-AA56	Proposed Rule
USCG	Updates to Maritime Security	1625-AB38	Proposed Rule
TSA	General Aviation Security and Other Aircraft Operator Security	1652-AA53	Proposed Rule
TSA	Security Training for Surface Mode Employees	1652-AA55	Proposed Rule
TSA	Freight Railroads and Passenger Railroads--Vulnerability Assessment and Security Plan	1652-AA56	Proposed Rule
TSA	Standardized Vetting, Adjudication, and Redress Services	1652-AA61	Proposed Rule
OS	Ammonium Nitrate Security Program	1601-AA52	Final Rule
OS	Classified National Security Information	1601-AA68	Final Rule
USCG	Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements	1625-AB21	Final Rule
USCG	Revision to Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Requirements for Mariners	1625-AB80	Final Rule

CFATS Rulemaking

There is only one new item on the list; the CFATS rulemaking update. According to the abstract published by OIRA:

“The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) invites public comment on the Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) for potential revisions to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) regulations. DHS believes this ANPRM will provide expanded opportunities for DHS to hear and consider the views of interested members of the public on their recommendations for possible program changes.”

From various public pronouncements in the last month or so it would seem that the whole of the CFATS program would be subject to this ANPRM. According to the various comments this would include an update of the basic regulations, the list of DHS chemicals of interest (COI), and the Risk-Based Performance Standards Guidance (RBPS Guidance) document.

While there is a certain operational elegance to addressing the whole program in a single rulemaking, this will be certain to bog down the entire process in a political rehash of sensitive topics such as the personnel surety program and the concept of inherently safer technology. Separating out the least controversial portions of the program (the list of COI and the RBPS Guidance for example) would allow those to proceed while the main rulemaking would certainly flounder.

Of course, this will all be a moot point if Congress actually gets around to passing HR 4007 this summer. The rulemaking mandated by that legislation would take precedence and would likely avoid the ANPRM process; going directly to a notice of proposed rulemaking.

Other Rulemakings

There are no significant changes to the other rulemakings on my list. Long time readers will note that I have stopped publishing the political fiction of the ‘expected dates’ for the next step in the rulemaking process. Of the eleven rulemakings listed in the table only one has even a snowballs chance in hell of meeting the published expected date. That would be the May 2014 date for the Classified National Security Information rulemaking, since OMB has already approved the language for this final rule. I am actually surprised that it hasn’t already been published.