OMB Publishes Fall 2016 Unified Agenda – DHS

Yesterday the OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) published the Fall 2016 Unified Agenda, outlining the current state of planned rulemakings by the Executive Branch. While the Obama Administration may be on its way out, the various agencies of the Federal government still have on-going rulemaking activities that will probably continue in the new administration.

The list of on-going rulemakings in the Department of Homeland Security shows the typical movement of the rule making process. The list of active rulemakings that may be of specific concern for readers of this blog are shown in Table 1 below.

OS	Final Rule	Petitions for Rulemaking, Amendment, or Repeal	1601-AA56
OS	Proposed Rule	Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS)	1601-AA69
OS	Proposed Rule	Homeland Security Acquisition Regulation: Safeguarding of Sensitive Information	1601-AA76
USCG	Final Rule	Revision to Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) Requirements for Mariners	1625-AB80
USCG	Final Rule	2013 Liquid Chemical Categorization Updates	1625-AB94
TSA	Prerule	Surface Transportation Vulnerability Assessments and Security Plans	1652-AA56
TSA	Proposed Rule	Security Training for Surface Transportation Employees	1652-AA55
TSA	Proposed Rule (New)	Vetting of Certain Surface Transportation Employees	1652-AA69

Table 1: Current Rulemakings

The only ‘new’ rulemaking on the list is the last one, Vetting of Certain Surface Transportation Employees. This rulemaking is based upon a congressional mandate from 2008 (PL 110-53). The specific requirements of that mandate can be found in 6 USC §1140 (public transportation), §1143 (public transportation), §1162 (railroads), and §1170 (railroads).

OIRA also published the listing of ‘long-term actions’, rulemakings that are technically on-going, but without any specific plans for the date of the next action in the rulemaking process. The DHS list of rulemakings on that list include those listed in Table 2 below.

OS	Ammonium Nitrate Security Program	1601-AA52
OS	Updates to Protected Critical Infrastructure Information	1601-AA77
USCG	Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC); Card Reader Requirements	1625-AB21
USCG	Updates to Maritime Security	1625-AB38
USCG	Amendments to Chemical Testing Requirements	1625-AB58
TSA	Protection of Sensitive Security Information	1652-AA08
TSA	General Aviation Security and Other Aircraft Operator Security	1652-AA53

Table 2: Long-Term Actions

There is a continual switching between the current agenda and the long-term actions list. Nothing should be read into that other than DHS does not intend to see action on the items in the long-term actions list in the foreseeable future. Just remember that the items listed on the current Unified Agenda have mainly been there for some time and the time estimates provided for the next action may have no connection to reality.