Conference Program

E-Rulemaking

Thursday, January 8, 2004
American University
Ward Circle Building
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20016
(202) 885-2127

7:30 am
Registration in the Ward Circle Building Lobby

8:00 am
Conference Welcome and Overview
Kim Nelson, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Environmental Information,Chief Information Officer, Co-Chair of Erulemaking Executive Committee
Don Arbuckle, OMB, Co-Chair of the eRule Executive Committee
Dr. Neil Kerwin, Provost and Professor of Public Administration, American University

8:30 am
The Administration’s e-rulemaking Initiative
During this session, leadership and staff of regulation.gov will present an overview of the project, its current status, operating characteristics, patterns of use and plans for short and longer-term development

"A Status Report on the Administration's e-rulemaking Initiative"
Dr. Oscar Morales, Environmental Protection Agency

9:00 am
Public Participation in Rulemaking
There are a number of reasons why participation by the public in rulemaking is required and encouraged. In addition to a review of these, this session will focus on the current state of knowledge on how the public participates in the development of rules across the federal government, including the techniques used by participants to communicate information, concerns and preferences to rulemaking bodies, the obstacles and problems that affect participants and agencies during the process of participation and ideas about how these might be overcome or mitigated.

"A Review of Recent Research on Public Participation in Rulemaking"
Dr. Scott Furlong, Chair, Department of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

"Participation in Rulemaking by Larger Entities"
Mr. Thomas Susman, Partner, Ropes and Gray

"Participation in Environmental Rulemaking by Small Communities"
Dr. Christine Reed, Professor, past chair of the Section on Public Law and Administration of ASPA; School of Public Administration, University of Nebraska-Omaha, Chair of the Section on Environmental and Natural Resources Administration of the American Society for Public Administration

"Participation in Rulemaking by Small Businesses"
Mr. Andrew Langer, National Federation of Independent Businesses

"A Report on a Survey of the Administrative Law Section of the American Bar Association on Participation on E-Rulemaking"
Professor Peter Strauss, Columbia Law School

Lead Comment:
Mr. Tom Williams, The Conservation Fund; Professor, American University, Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies
Amanda Frost, Public Citizen

11:00am
State of the Art in “e-rulemaking”
The regulation.gov initiative is an outgrowth of a decade-long effort in many sectors to use the Internet and the tools of information technology to improve a number of aspects of rulemaking, but most notably public participation in the process. A number of major conferences have been held during the past several years to evaluate these efforts, consider developments in technology and human factors research with the potential for application to rulemaking and suggest improvements in existing systems. This session will focus on the results of these conferences and draw on recent research and commentary to provide an assessment of the current state of e-rulemaking and identify the most fruitful areas future efforts.

"Technological Innovations and Tools to Enable Public Participation and Manage Public Comments"
Dr. Stuart Shulman, Drake University

"Policy and Management Issues Associated with E-Rulemaking"
Dr. Cary Coglianese, Professor, Chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the Center for Business and Government, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

"The Prospects for High Quality Dialogue in E-Rulemaking"
Dr. Thomas Beierle, Resources for the Future

"A Comparison of Government-wide and Agency-Specific E-rulemaking Efforts"
Curtis Copeland, Senior Analyst, General Accounting Office

"E-Rulemaking Development in State Governments"
Jay Lagarde, Virginia Department of Planning and Budget

Lead Comment:
Professor Jeff Lubbers, Washington College of Law, American University
Randy May, Senior Fellow, Director of Communications Policy Studies, The Progress and Freedom Foundation

1:00 pm
Lunch: Remarks by Neil Kerwin

2:00 pm
Will E-Rulemaking Matter?: Performance Measurement in Rules and Rulemaking
In addition to the “e-government” program, of which regulation.gov is a part, the Bush Administration has established a number of management initiatives for the federal government. One is performance-based management. Over the years both government and academe have struggled in the development of criteria for the evaluation of rules and the rulemaking processes that produce them. e-rulemaking is subject to performance measurement. Presumably, its value will be determined by the contributions it makes to the performance of the larger rulemaking process to which it contributes. This session will focus on the various criteria that might be applied to rules and the processes that produce them and how these might be applied to e-rulemaking. These criteria include, but are not limited to, consistency with statutory intent, timeliness of issuance, transparency, full and useful public participation, maximization of estimated net benefits, ease of implementation and enforcement, and effectiveness in meeting policy goals.

"A Performance Measurement Framework for Rules and Rulemaking"
Dr. Jonathan Breul, IBM Corporation

"Producing Net Benefits in Rules"
Dr. John Morrall, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget

"Timeliness and the Avoidance of Delay in Issuing Rules"
Mr. Neil Eisner, U.S. Department of Transportation

"Legitimacy in Rulemaking: Balancing Public Participation with Agency Discretion"
Dr. Laura Langbein, Department of Public Administration, School of Public Affairs, American University
Professor Philip Harter, School of Law, University of Missouri

"E-Rulemaking and Data Quality"
James Tozzi, Director, Center for Regulatory Effectiveness

Lead Comment: Ms. Sally Katzen, Esq, Former Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, currently Professor of Government, Smith College

3:30 pm
Small Group Discussions
Among the goals of the conference are establishing performance expectations and standards for regulation.gov, setting priorities for academic research devoted to public participation in rulemaking, and identifying ways users can take full advantage of e-rulemaking systems. To ensure these are accomplished conference participants will be divided into smaller groups, each of which is given one of the following assignments:

• What are the most important objectives for the Administration and/or individual agencies to accomplish during the next few years ? Which technologies and technology applications should receive the greatest development effort over this period ? What management principles and techniques should the Administration and individual agencies employ as they implement e-rulemaking government-wide ? When measuring the performance of e-rulemaking systems, which criteria are the most important ?

Cindy Skrzycki, Washington Post

Sally Katzen, Esq, Former Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB,      currently Professor of Government, Smith College

• What actions are needed over the next few years to ensure all interested and affected parties are able to use e-rulemaking system effectively and efficiently ? Which of these actions fall to the administration or individual agencies of government? Which fall to the user community? What role should the academic community play in this process ?

Fred Emery, The Regulatory Group
Professor Philip Harter, School of Law, University of Missouri

Neil Eisner, Office of the Secretary, US Department of Transportation

• What are the most important questions related to e-rulemaking for the research community to answer in the coming years ? How can e-rulemaking systems be designed or modified to facilitate the research process ? Beyond systems design what steps can the administration or individual agencies take to improve the quality of research on e-rulemaking and related topics?

Dr. Cary Coglianese, Professor, Chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the Center for      Business and Government, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Professor Jeffrey Lubbers, Washington College of Law, American University
Dr. Stuart Shulman, Drake University

Discussion Leaders:
Dr. Cary Coglianese, Professor, Chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the Center for      Business and Government, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Neil Eisner, Office of the Secretary, US Department of Transportation
Fred Emery, The Regulatory Group
Professor Philip Harter, School of Law, University of Missouri
Sally Katzen, Esq, Former Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB,      currently Professor of Government, Smith College
Professor Jeffrey Lubbers, Washington College of Law, American University
Dr. Stuart Shulman, Drake University
Cindy Skrzycki, Washington Post

4:30 pm
Feedback Session
The results of each small group session will be communicated to the full group at this closing session and the major conclusions drawn from the day’s presentations and discussions will be summarized and reviewed. Next steps will be established, including setting the time and agenda for the next full-day conference.

6:00 pm
Concluding remarks

Reception

Information about the Presenters:
Don Arbuckle
Thomas Beierle
Jonathan Breul
Cary Coglianese
Curtis Copeland
Neil Eisner
Fred Emery
Amanda Frost
Scott Furlong
Philip Harter
Sally Katzen
Neil Kerwin
Jay Lagarde
Laura Langbein
Andrew Langer
Jeffrey Lubbers
Randy May
Oscar Morales
John Morrall
Kim Nelson
Christine Reed
Stuart Shulman
Cindy Skrzycki
Peter Strauss
Tom Susman
James Tozzi
Tom Williams

Don Arbuckle
     Don has worked at OIRA nearly from its inception. He joined OIRA in 1981 and, over the next several years served as a Desk Officer and then as Deputy Branch Chief for the Commerce and Lands Branch, covering a variety of agencies including DOT, EPA, DOI, USDA, SBA, and DOC. He has worked closely with OIRA's Administrators and Deputy Administrators during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton Administrations on broad regulatory and information issues, including the many controversies surrounding regulatory review. Don became OIRA's Deputy Administrator in 1996, serving as Acting Administrator for 18 months in 1998 and 1999 and during the transition between the Clinton and Bush Administrations. He is now the Deputy for OIRA Administrator John Graham.
     Prior to joining OMB, Don worked at the National Transportation Safety Board. Before that, in what turned out to be a singularly ill-timed career move, he was a professor at a university in Iran, setting up an American Studies program in 1977 and 1978. Don has a BA from Harvard, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He lives in Alexandria with his wife and son; his two older children are married and living in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Albany, New York.

Thomas C. Beierle, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.
     Thomas C. Beierle is a fellow in the Risk, Resource and Environmental Management Division at Resources for the Future (RFF), an environmental policy think tank in Washington, DC. One of Beierle's primary areas of interest is the role of public participation in environmental policy, including the role of the Internet in fostering participation. He is the author of Democracy in Practice (RFF Press 2002), an evaluative study of 239 cases of public involvement, and a number of articles and reports. On leave from RFF, Beierle is currently serving as a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow at the Office of the United States Trade Representative. He received his Masters of Public Affairs degree from Princeton University and a B.A. from Yale University.
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Jonathan D. Breul
Associate Partner IBM Business Consulting Services and Senior Fellow - IBM Center for The Business of Government
      Jonathan D. Breul is a widely recognized expert on the policy and practice of improving government management and performance.
     Formerly Senior Advisor to the Deputy Director for Management in the Office of Management and Budget in the Executive Office of the President, Mr. Breul served as OMB's senior career executive with primary responsibility for government-wide general management policies. He helped develop the President's Management Agenda, was instrumental in establishing the President's Management Council, and championed efforts to integrate performance information with the budget process. He led the overall implementation of the Government Performance and Results Act. In addition to his OMB activities, he helped Senator John Glenn (D-Ohio) launch the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act.
     He also served for nearly ten years as the U.S. delegate and elected vice chair of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) Public Management Committee.
     Mr. Breul is a Fellow and Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the National Academy Public Administration (NAPA) and a Principal of the Council for Excellence in Government. He holds a Masters of Public Administration from Northeastern University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Colby College.
     He has received numerous awards including Federal Computer Week's 2002 "Federal 100." In 1998, he received the Elmer Staats Award by the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. In 1995 he received the Mydral Award for Public Service from the American Evaluation Association.
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Cary Coglianese Harvard University
     Cary Coglianese is Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and Chair of the Regulatory Policy Program at the School's Center for Business and Government. He is also currently the Irvine Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. His interdisciplinary research focuses on issues of regulation and administrative law, with a particular emphasis on the empirical evaluation of alternative and innovative regulatory strategies and the role of disputing and negotiation in regulatory policy making. His work has appeared in, among other journals, the Administrative Law Review, Duke Law Journal, Law & Society Review, Michigan Law Review, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and Stanford Law Review. His papers on e-rulemaking can be found at www.e-rulemaking.org, an online clearinghouse he has created for researchers and policy professionals interested in information technology and rulemaking. An affiliated scholar at the Harvard Law School and the director of the Kennedy School's Politics Research Group, Coglianese teaches public law, environmental policy, and regulatory strategy. He is the founder and co-chair of the Law & Society Association's international collaborative research network on regulatory governance, the Vice Chair of E-Rulemaking Committee of the American Bar Association's section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice, and the Vice Chair of the Innovation, Management Systems, and Trading Committee of the American Bar Association's section on Environment, Energy, and Resources. He is the recipient of a Resources for the Future fellowship on regulatory implementation and the American Political Science Association's Edward S. Corwin Award. Coglianese received his J.D., M.P.P. (public policy), and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Michigan.
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Curtis Copeland
     Curtis W. Copeland is an Assistant Director in the Strategic Issues Team within the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO). Dr. Copeland received his Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in 1980 in Political Science and Public Administration. He has worked at GAO for the past 23 years on a variety of issues, including federal personnel policy (compensation, pay equity, ethics); procurement policy; and management reform. For the past 10 years he has written reports and testimonies on a wide range of regulatory reform issues, including the implementation of the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act, the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act, and Executive Order 12866. Most recently, Dr. Copeland directed reviews of federal agencies' risk assessment systems, the implementation of the Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, OMB's reviews of agencies' draft rules under the executive order, and agencies' uses of information technology to improve public commenting systems and, more generally, regulatory management.
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Neil Eisner
Mr. Eisner is currently the Assistant General Counsel for Regulation and Enforcement in the United States Department of Transportation. In this position, which he has held since 1978, his areas of substantive responsibility include transportation safety, aviation and maritime economic issues, consumer problems, environmental issues and civil rights. He is the recipient of twelve Senior Executive Service Performance Awards and Presidential Rank Awards in 1987, 1994, and 2002. He has long been active and in leadership positions in the Administrative Law Section of the American Bar Association.
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Scott Furlong
     Scott Furlong is Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Department of Public and Environmental Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. His primary area of research focuses on interest group participation in regulatory policy generally and rulemaking specifically. His articles have appeared in, among other journals, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Administration and Society, the Public Administration Review, and Policy Studies Journal. He recently published (CQ Press) a public policy text co-authored with Michael Kraft entitled Public Policy: Politics, Analysis and Alternatives. Furlong teaches courses in Regulatory Policy, Public Policy, Administrative Law and American Government. Furlong received his M.P.A. and PhD from American University.
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Philip Harter
     PHILIP J. HARTER is the Earl F. Nelson Professor of Law and Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of Dispute Resolution at the University of Missouri-Columbia. He has been a pioneer in the theory and practice of the use of direct participation among affected interests to develop government policy and on the use of dispute resolution procedures by government agencies. He has mediated many complex matters involving public policy, including EPA's standards for Reformulated Gasoline, OSHA's Fall Protection Standards in Steel Erection, and the FAA and NPS's requirements for Sightseeing Flights over National Parks. His research provided the basis for negotiated rulemaking and has served as the foundation for the subsequent practice. He was a principal draftsman of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act and of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act. Mr. Harter served as Chair of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association and Co-chair of its Task Force on Regulatory Reform in which capacity he represented the ABA in the regulatory reform debates before Congress. He was the official observer for the Section of Administrative Law to the Uniform Mediation Act and the reporter for multiple-section committee that developed Standards for Ombudsmen which were adopted by the ABA in August, 2001.
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Sally Katzen
Esq, Former Director, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, currently Professor of Government, Smith College
Former deputy assistant to the President for economic policy and deputy director of the national economic council, The White House
Administrator, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget
Partner, Wilmer, Cutler, & Pickering

Neil Kerwin
     Professor Kerwin began his term as Provost on August 1, 1998. Before his appointment as permanent Provost, he held this position in an acting capacity.
     As a member of the AU faculty since 1975, Dr. Kerwin has held a number of prominent leadership positions within the School of Public Affairs, including his service as Dean from 1989 to 1997. In addition to his management responsibilities at the university, he has been actively engaged in teaching and research. He is a specialist in public policy, with emphasis on the regulatory process. He teaches courses in administrative process, policy implementation, and American government. Professor Kerwin is the author of Rulemaking: How Government Agencies Write Law and Make Policy, third edition published February 2003, by Congressional Quarterly Press, and the co-author of How Washington Works: The Executive's Guide to Government in its third edition. Dr. Kerwin's scholarly articles have appeared in Public Administration Review, Journal of Politics, Policy Studies Review, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Judicature, Justice System Journal, and the Harvard Journal on Legislation. He is also the author of numerous monographs, chapters in edited books, anthologies, and articles in professional and popular publications.
     Dr. Kerwin has served as a consultant to a number of government agencies and private organizations. His experience in the public sector includes work with the Office of Personnel Management, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Administrative Conference of the United States, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Department of Agriculture, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the Public Health Service. In spring 2002, he led a delegation of officials from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services who discussed regulations with counterparts from European governments and the private sector. In the private sector, he has served as a consultant to IBM Corporation, General Electric, and the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences. He is a frequent lecturer on topics related to his scholarly and professional interests.
     Professor Kerwin is active in a number of professional associations and societies. He was elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) in 1996, and later was appointed to its Fellow Nominating Committee for a two-year term, serving as Chair during the year 2000. He currently serves on the NAPA Board Nominating Committee. He was President of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA) in 1998 and also served a three-year term on its Commission on Peer Review and Accreditation. He was the founding Chair of the Section on Public Law and Administration of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) and was a member of the Board of ASPA's National Capital Area Chapter. He has been inducted into the memberships of Pi Sigma Alpha and Pi Alpha Alpha national honor societies for the fields of political science and public administration, respectively.
     Professor Kerwin received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Johns Hopkins University in1978, an M.A. in Political Science from the University of Rhode Island in 1973, and a B.A. from American University in 1971.
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Fred Emery
Fred Emery is president of The Regulatory Group, Inc. Between 1970 and 1979, Mr. Emery was Director of the Office of the Federal Register. Previously Mr. Emery served as Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Regulation of the Department of Transportation and in other regulatory positions at both the Federal and State level. Mr. Emery has taught Administrative Law at the law school level and has over 40 years experience in government regulation and the regulatory process. From 1977 to 1980 he chaired the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Legal Drafting.

Amanda Frost
Amanda Frost is an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group. Ms. Frost graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1997. Immediately after law school she clerked for Judge A. Raymond Randolph on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. She joined Public Citizen Litigation Group in 1998. In 2001, Ms. Frost was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship and took a 10-month leave of absence from Public Citizen to study administrative law reform in the European Union. Ms. Frost’s practice areas include administrative law, open government, access to courts, free speech, consumer health and safety, preemption and class actions. She has argued before the United States Supreme Court and several federal courts of appeals. Ms. Frost is an adjunct professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. She has published articles in the Food and Drug Law Journal, European Public Law, and the Wisconsin Women’s Law Journal.
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Jay Lagarde
     Stewart J. Lagarde, Jr. (Jay) is a Senior Policy Analyst at the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget, where he oversees the executive branch policy review of new state regulations.
     Jay was recognized as one of Richmond, Virginia’s “Top 40 under 40” by Inside Business magazine in 2001, and in 2002 he was the recipient of Virginia’s Patrick Henry Award for accomplishment in public service. For the last several years, Jay has served as a member of the Virginia Administrative Law Advisory Committee. Jay played a central role in developing the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website, which has won several state and national awards, including the American Association of Law Libraries’ Public Access to Government Award (2003), the Colborn Innovation Award from the ACR section of the National Association of Secretaries of State (2002), and the Best of Breed Award from the Center for Digital Government.
     Jay holds degrees from the University of Virginia and The Catholic University of America.
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Laura Langbein
     Prof. Langbein (PhD, Political Science, U. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill) teaches quantitative methods, program evaluation, policy analysis and public choice. Her research fields include: theories of bureaucratic discretion, productivity, principal-agent models, social capital and cooperation in the workplace; theories of influence of interest groups in Congress and the bureaucracy; empirical applications in various policy areas, including the environment, education, defense, housing, criminal justice (death penalty and police). Her recent articles have appeared in J. of Politics, J. Policy Analysis and Management, Social Science Quarterly, J. Public Administration Research and Theory, Evaluation Review, Public Choice, Public Administration Review, and other scholarly journals as well. She has forthcoming articles on the demand for music programs in the public schools; on the impact of cooperation among police on their productivity (co-authored with a PhD student); and on the efficiency of residential community associations (co-authored with an MPP student). Her current research compares negotiated to conventional rulemaking at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and she is studying the consequences of varying levels of discretion in Federal agencies. She is also re-writing (with Claire Felbinger) her textbook on statistical methods in program evaluation. Langbein is also a freelance clarinetist.
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Andrew Langer
     Andrew Langer joined NFIB in the Spring of 2002. As Manager, Regulatory Policy, he helps White House and Executive Branch policymakers understand the impact of laws affecting small business, and how that impact differs from that impacting larger businesses. Also, he is responsible for protecting the interests of small business in the face of an ever-increasing burden from regulatory agencies, as well the protection of the private property rights of small business owners.
     Before joining NFIB, Langer was Associate Director of Development for the Washington DC-based Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think tank focusing on free-market and limited-government solutions to public policy problems.
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Jeffrey Lubbers
     Jeffrey Lubbers is a Fellow in Law and Government at American University's Washington College of Law, where he has also served as a Visiting Professor. He teaches courses in Administrative Law, Federal Legal Institutions and ADR. He has also taught at the University of Miami School of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, and the Georgetown University Law Center. He has an A.B. degree from Cornell University and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School and is a member of the bars of the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
     From 1982-1995 he was ACUS' Research Director-a position in the Senior Executive Service. In this position, he developed ideas for new studies, hired outside consultants (mostly law professors) to conduct the studies, reviewed reports, supervised staff attorneys and assisted ACUS committees in developing recommendations from the studies on a wide variety of administrative law subjects.
     He co-authored ACUS's major 1992 study, The Federal Administrative Judiciary and was a contributing author of the first edition of the Guide to Federal Agency Rulemaking. He has authored an updated third edition of the latter Guide, published by the American Bar Association in 1998. He has also co-authored the just-published Administrative Procedure Sourcebook (3d. ed), and served as the editor for the ABA's Developments in Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice (1998-1999) and (1999-2000).
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Randolph J. May
Randolph J. May is Senior Fellow & Director of Communications Policy Studies for The Progress & Freedom Foundation. The Communications Policy Studies program examines policies relating to deregulation of the competitive telecommunications industry and the implications of competition for reform of the Federal Communications Commission. From 1978 to 1981, Mr. May served as Assistant General Counsel and Associate General Counsel at the Federal Communication Commission. He also has held several leadership positions in bar associations, and he is presently chair-elect of the ABA's Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. Mr. May also was a Public Member of the Administrative Conference of the United States. Mr. May writes a regular column on regulatory affairs for Legal Times entitled "Fourth Branch." In addition, he has published more than fifty articles and essays on communications, administrative and constitutional law topics. Mr. May is an adjunct professor of law at George Mason University School of Law. He received his A.B. from Duke University and his J.D. from Duke Law School, where he serves as a member of the Board of Visitors.
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Oscar Morales
Oscar Morales has over twenty years experience at the Agency in four sub-agency AA-ships serving in various capacities from planning, budgeting and statistics to analysis and management. Currently, he is Director of the Collection Strategies Division within the Office of Environmental Information and the Managing Director for the eRulemaking Initiative, one of the Administration's 24 e-Gov Initiatives and the only one with EPA as the lead. He is responsible for implementing the Agency's FOIA, Privacy Act, Paperwork Reduction Act, and the Records Management Program as well as for developing and implementing Data Standards, Metadata Strategies, CBI and Security policies. As part of the State-EPA Exchange Network, he is responsible for the maintenance of the Systems of Registries and numerous Repositories including the XML Repository. As the director of the eRulemaking Initiative, he is overseeing the construction and maintenance of a federal-wide electronic rulemaking system to be used by over 180 agencies-migrating 30 legacy systems from the other federal agencies and integrating the other 150 paper-based agencies. The new eRulemaking system will revolutionize the way the entire federal government writes rules and solicits comments from the public. He has received numerous awards for leading the Initiative and several Agency awards including a Silver Medal for co chairing the National Chemical Sector Y2K Conformance and Implementation Process. Mr. Morales has an MBA from Wharton and a Masters in Political Science from Texas Tech University. Mr. Morales received a Bachelors from the University of Missouri in Philosophy and Political Science and completed five years of doctoral work in Statistics, Political Science and Policy at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.
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John Morrall
      John Morrall is currently branch chief, Transportation, Health, and General Government, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Executive Office of the President. Supervise a staff of 15 economists and policy analysts responsible for reviewing and coordinating the regulations, regulatory impact analyses, and information collection requests issued by over a dozen department and agencies in the policy areas of transportation, health, welfare, education, labor, finance, pensions, veterans affairs, civil rights, immigration, government personnel, and science. Lead author for OMB's annual Report to Congress on the Costs and Benefits of Federal Regulations. Expert in the area of regulatory reform and oversight, cost-benefit analysis, labor economics, international economics, and risk assessment.
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Kimberly Nelson
On November 30, 2001, Kimberly Nelson was sworn into the position of Assistant Administrator for Environmental Information and Chief Information Officer, United States Environmental Protection Agency by EPA's Administrator, Governor Christine Todd Whitman. Prior to her joining EPA, Ms. Nelson served the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for 22 years. During her career, she worked in the Senate of Pennsylvania, the Public Utility Commission, and the Departments of Aging and Environmental Protection. For the last fourteen years, Ms. Nelson held a number of positions in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. She was the first Director of the Program Integration and Effectiveness Office, the first executive to hold the position of Chief Information Officer, and most recently served as Executive Deputy Secretary, the second highest position in the department. She was primarily responsible for managing department-wide projects with a goal toward improving processes and integrating programs and functions. Ms. Nelson was recognized for outstanding service on three occasions during her career with the Department of Environmental Protection. Ms. Nelson graduated from Shippensburg University in 1978 with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, Political Science, and from the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 with a Master of Public Administration. She is married to Kevin Cadden, a career government employee, and has two daughters - Kelsey, age eleven, and Mackenzie, age nine.
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Christine Reed
     Dr. Reed brings extensive practical experience in federal, state and local government, as well as a five-year period in higher education administration at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, to her academic position at UNO as Professor of Public Administration. Although her prior research interests included public personnel management and dual career couple issues, her focus during the past ten years has been on the linkages between public administration and environmental ethics. Most recently, her article "Pastoral, Progressive and Postmodern Ideas in Environmental Political Thought: Restoring Agency to Nature" appeared in Administrative Theory & Praxis (March 2001). She has also collaborated with colleagues at NASPAA, Mississippi State University and the Maxwell School at Syracuse University on the SCOPe project (Small Communities Outreach Partnership for Environmental Issues). Papers developed out of that collaboration were presented at the 2001 conferences of ASPA and the Western Social Science Association. Dr. Reed currently serves as the Chair of the Section on Public Law and Administration.
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Stuart Shulman
     Stuart Shulman has his Ph.D. in political Science from the University of Oregon. His dissertation was "The Origin of the Federal Farm Loan Act: Agenda-Setting in the Progressive Era Print Press."
     He is currently an assistant professor at Drake University, Environmental Science and Policy Program.
     President-Elect, IT & Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, 2003
     Chair, eRulemaking Workshop, National Science Foundation, 2003, supported by grants from the NSF and EPA
     Program Committee, NSF’s National Conference on Digital Government Research, 2003
     Executive Committee, NSF’s eRulemaking Workshop, Kennedy School of Government, 2003
     Chair, Citizen Participation in e-Rulemaking Workshop at the Council for Excellence in Government, 2001, supported by grants from the National Science Foundation ($3,500) and Drake University ($1,500)
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Cindy Skrzycki
CINDY SKRZYCKI is a business columnist for The Washington Post, covering federal regulatory issues. In 15 years at The Post, she has specialized in management and technology issues, with special expertise in the business and regulation of the telecommunications industry. Since November 1993, she has written a weekly column, "The Regulators," which examines the gritty work of Washington regulation. Before joining The Post, she was an associate business editor at U.S. News & World Report, specializing in transportation issues, and a Washington correspondent for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, where she covered the gamut of business issues. She also worked in the Washington Bureau of the Fairchild News Service, covering the steel industry, and was a business writer for The Buffalo News. Born in Buffalo, NY, she is an honors graduate of Canisius College where she was editor of the student newspaper, The Griffin, and a member of the DiGamma Honor Society. She is a former member of the Board of Trustees of Canisius College. She also holds an MA in public affairs and journalism from the American University, Washington, DC. She is the author of a book called The Regulators: The Anonymous Power Brokers Who Shape Your Life. She lives with her husband, David Shribman, and two daughters, Elizabeth and Natalie, in Washington, DC.
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Peter Strauss
A.B., mcl, Harvard, 1961; LL.B., mcl, Yale, 1964. Editor-in-chief, Yale Law Journal. Was law clerk to Chief Judge David Bazelon, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit; and to Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., of the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1966 to 1968, taught criminal law at the Law School of the Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia. From 1968 to 1971, was assistant to the solicitor general of the United States, preparing briefs and arguing cases before the Supreme Court. Joined the Columbia faculty in 1971. From 1975 to 1977 was on leave to be general counsel of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Has visited at Harvard and NYU Law Schools; faculty exchanges at the European University Institute, Ludwig Maximilians University (Munich), Tokyo University, and the University of Buenos Aires. Twice Columbia's Vice Dean.

Tom Susman
     Tom Susman is a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Ropes & Gray LLP, where he conducts a diverse legislative and regulatory practice.
     Tom handles legislative matters on behalf of both large and small clients in a variety of industries. He has been active in seeking enactment of legislation, in obtaining appropriations for specific projects, in blocking or amending legislative proposals, and in counseling targets of congressional investigations. Typical projects have involved tax code amendments, regulatory reform, intellectual property protection, environmental protection, organ procurement, access to government information, Native American issues, antitrust law reform, and cameras in the courtroom.
     Tom's regulatory practice extends to a wide variety of matters, including freedom of information and privacy issues; healthcare; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms wine labeling enforcement and rulemaking; and regulation of organ procurement. He also counsels clients on antitrust and trade regulation matters and represents clients responding to federal and state antitrust investigations.
     Before joining Ropes & Gray in 1981, Tom served on Capitol Hill for over 11 years. He was Chief Counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure and General Counsel to the Antitrust Subcommittee and to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to that he clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom on the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and was Special Assistant to the Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice. He graduated from Yale University and received his J.D. with high honors from the University of Texas Law School, where he was editor-in-chief of the Texas Law Review.

James Tozzi
Jim Tozzi served as Chief of Environmental programs at OMB as well as the Assistant Director for regulatory policy. Presently he is a member of the Board of Advisors of the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, the initial proponent of the Data Quality Act. He has a degree in chemical engineering, a masters in retailing and a PhD in economics.
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Tom Williams
     Tom Williams served on the staff of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (and its predecessor the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee) for more than 25 years. When he left the Committee in January of 1999 and retired from federal service, he was the Democratic Staff Director under Arkansas Senator Dale Bumpers. He also served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Fish, Wildlife and Parks at the Department of the Interior in 1993.
     Born in Joplin, Missouri and raised in Arkansas, Tom graduated from high school in Little Rock. He received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master's degree in Political Science from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and Washington State University, respectively.
     Currently, Mr. Williams is a consultant, teacher and Director of Federal Projects for The Conservation Fund, an Arlington, Virginia, based non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of land and water resources in the context of sustainable development. He is the founder and president of The Williams Group, a consulting firm specializing in natural resource and public lands' issues. Mr. Williams is a former member of the Secretary of the Interior's Advisory Board on the National Park System and a member of the board of the Pinchot Institute for Conservation.
     Tom is an adjunct faculty member at American University in the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies and the School of Public Affairs where he teaches classes in the legislative process, public policy, lobbying and the impact of technology on democracy and our political institutions. He serves as a visiting faculty member at the Eastern Management Development Center in Shepherdstown, WV and the Graduate School, USDA, where he conducts training seminars in congressional operations and environmental and natural resources policy.
     Mr. Williams is a member of the American Political Science Association, the National Capital-Area Political Science Association and an honorary member of the Golden Key Honor Society. He lives in northern Virginia with his wife, Betsy Moler, and their two children.
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A Note to Conference Participants:
Please use the e-mail hotlink to comment on any or all aspects of the conference program. In particular it would be helpful if you focused on questions that will form the basis for the small group discussions described above. We are anxious to ensure that the conference addresses as many topics and concerns as possible. Your input will advance that goal.
CKerwin@american.edu