Peter Strauss

     The following summarize the results of a survey taken last spring among members of the ABA's Section on Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice. There has evidently been much change since then, and the survey did not purport to cover all areas of possible concern B for example, whether and in what ways the creation and administration of a government-wide standard might, desirably or undesirably, enhance White House controls over rulemaking processes.

320 respondents, 45% > 20 years in practice, 24% 10-20
134 firm or corporate practice; 132 government attorneys; 55 Education; 29 NGO
Environment, Labor and Communications >100; Utilities, Transportation, Health, Housing >50; Drugs and Consumer Products, 30-40
>75% use government electronic resources, when available, predominantly (31%) or often (47%)
Agency web-site 300; Electronic Federal Register 149; Agency list-serve 100; Regulations.gov 67, Firstgov 63, E-FOIA 10

For most, rulemaking is less than 10% of their practice, but 59 reported it as half or more.
176 have not files rulemaking comments in the past three years; 76 in >3 rulemakings
Electronic filings: 16 >5; 20 3-5; 47 1-2; all but one by email or at an agency site, only 4 on a space-limited response form and only 1 at a government-wide portal. 21 who did not file electronically reported concerns about limitations (11), agency evaluation (4), excessive availability to the public (3) and reliability (3).
117 report using the Internet for research 9 or more times daily; 41, twice or fewer

People were asked more general questions, not readily tabulated, but a reviewer can report his sense that ease and predictability of navigation user friendliness are important values; also, the breadth and thoroughness of search capacities available this may be the most frequently criticized aspect and; comprehensiveness and timeliness