Silicon Valley Mines the Federal Regulatory Data Base

WASHINGTON, June 4, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Regulations.gov  is the keeper of some of the nation's most precious data—all the information regarding the most important regulations issued by all federal agencies. The information includes copies of proposed rules, copies of final rules, supporting data and most importantly all the comments submitted to federal agencies from the public.

This important function is not housed in a particular agency and it has neither a well-defined management structure nor a yearly budget; instead this important function is managed by a multi-headed interagency agency council which has to pass the hat to keep the operation running.

Much to the credit of those in charge of the system Regulations.gov is working but it has never been able to capitalize on the wealth of information in its possession.

The strengths and weaknesses of Regulaitions.gov have been studied by numerous government and non-government bodies, see for example eRulemaking.US, with no resultant action. Recognizing the inevitability of this impasse CRE has been a longtime advocate of a non-federal intervention.

Fortunately Splunk, a leader in data analysis software, acting in response to the Administration's Open Government Initiative, is making this software available to the public. Through its eRegulations Insights Splunk has taken the initial step in providing a means for the public to view the many dimensions of the federal regulatory data base.

We state the "initial step" because the possibilities are endless. At some point in time the data base can be turned into an Interactive Public Docket which is open 24/7 for public comment; the software can be expanded to allow for a variety of searches by the public and academicians can perform statistical analyses of the impact of public comments on the ultimate decisions made by regulators.

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness believes arrival of Silicon Valley to the federal regulatory scene is a welcome development which could result in a dramatic change on how we are regulated.

SOURCE Center for Regulatory Effectiveness