The Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has initiated steps to address mass, computer-generated and falsely attributed comments that were submitted in response to requests for public input on proposed regulations.
In a blog post published Tuesday, OIRA Administrator Richard Revesz wrote that his office has worked with the General Services Administration to better handle mass comments.
“These include, for example, a deduplication tool that one agency used to distill from 300,000 comments on a proposed rule a much more manageable set of 30,000 distinct comments,” Revesz noted.
How OIRA Is Solving the Problem
To manage computer-generated comments, OIRA has collaborated with GSA to implement additional checks at the comment submission system’s front end to protect the system from potential abuse.
When it comes to falsely attributed comments, the OIRA chief stated that the agency has established an interagency technical working group to share tips and best practices on how to manage comments in an effective manner.
“This working group regularly brings together dozens of regulatory professionals across many different agencies to ensure that issues like falsely-attributed comments can be addressed as new challenges develop,” Revesz added.
In December 2023, OIRA issued new guidance to facilitate greater public engagement in its regulatory review process.
