Regulatory Assignment

Examine proposed and final regulations and write a 3-5-page summary/analysis of the regulations. Choose any regulation that interests you at the federal or state level and look at both the proposed and final versions of the regulation. Below are instructions on how to find regulations at the federal level, which are generally easier to follow. However, you are free to do this at the state level if you can obtain the needed information.

To find the final and proposal regulations, start by going to the federal register website: https://www.federalregister.gov/. Then go to search documents (at the top right hand side) and enter a search term (e.g., Medicaid, health, tobacco control). That will give you a list of documents. You want to look for something interesting with a circled R next to it (which means final rule). Click on the final rule and then open the PDF version. (You want to quickly scroll through the final version to make sure they have a section with responses to comments. You also want to look at the summary in the beginning, as well as reference to the proposed rule that preceded the final rule which is often found in the Executive Summary section).

Please include the following information in your regulatory summary:

Proposed regulations:
• Legal cite (to the Federal Register or state Register—i.e., date of publication, Register
number and page number)’
• The agency that is issuing the proposed regulations;
• The legal authority for publishing the regulation (i.e., what is the statute that gives the agency the authority to issue regulations in this area);
• A summary of the proposed rule (no more than a paragraph), including a description of the problem the rule is meant to address or the goal it intends to accomplish;
• Process for commenting on the rule (i.e., whether a person can request a public hearing, whether a public hearing has been scheduled by the agency, where a person can submit public comments, the comment period, etc.).

Final regulations:
• When were the final regulations issued (date of publication, register number and page number);
• A short summary of the comments and agencies’ response. (Note: I only want you to summarize one or two of the comments/responses. Some of the final regulations in state or federal registers can be very long.). I want to be able to determine that you have reviewed some part of the final regulations in the register, to see how the comment and agency response process works. Look at the final regulations published in the federal register, not the Code of Federal Regulations (which is where the final regulations are codified. The CFR does not include summaries of comments and agency responses).

• Your assessment of whether the regulation is an effective way to address the problem/accomplish its goal. You may want to consider cost (to the federal/state government), impact, equity/justice/fairness, and any practical concerns with implementation. You may also want to consider how the rule compares to other policy options.

Grading Rubric

Points

Proposed regulation 5
Legal cite 5
The agency that is issuing the proposed regulations 5
The legal authority for publishing the regulation 10
Summary of the proposed rule, including a description of the problem the rule
is meant to address or the goal it intends to accomplish; 20
Process for commenting on the rule 10
Final regulation
Date of publication, register number and page number); 5
A short summary of the comments and agencies’ response 20
Your assessment of whether the regulation is an effective way to address the
problem/accomplish its goal. 20
TOTAL 100