DOT Rapped for Backlog of Unfinished Rules
The Department of Transportation and its divisions are doing a poor job meeting deadlines for new rules with the Office of the Secretary the slowest of all, taking an average of 6.6 years to complete action on rulemakings, said Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.).
The audit showed that numerous studies were performed during the 11 years the rule has been open. The rule has not been terminated even though DOT stated that a cost-effective nationwide identification system was not possible.
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Oberstar asked DOT’s inspector general to examine DOT’s rulemaking history.
In one example of how proposed rules whither and die, the IG report found that for more than eight years, the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, now the separate Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, took no action on a rule to improve a national identification system for truck and bus drivers.
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