- Bush E.O. Increases Sway on Regulation - CPI suing FCC to get at real state of broadband competition in the US Patrice McDermott, Executive Director OpenTheGovernment.org 202-332-OPEN (6736) www.openthegovernment.org - BUSH DIRECTIVE INCREASES SWAY ON REGULATION By Robert Pear WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 - President Bush has signed a directive that gives the White House much greater control over the rules and policy statements that the government develops to protect public health, safety, the environment, civil rights and privacy. In an executive order published last week in the Federal Register, Mr. Bush said that each agency must have a regulatory policy office run by a political appointee, to supervise the development of rules and documents providing guidance to regulated industries. The White House will thus have a gatekeeper in each agency to analyze the costs and the benefits of new rules and to make sure the agencies carry out the president's priorities. [...] Under the new White House policy, any guidance document expected to have an economic effect of $100 million a year or more must be posted on the Internet, and agencies must invite public comment, except in emergencies in which the White House grants an exemption. The White House told agencies that in writing guidance documents, they could not impose new legal obligations on anyone and could not use "mandatory language such as 'shall,' 'must,' 'required' or 'requirement.'"more [NYT] *** - CPI SUING FCC TO GET AT REAL STATE OF BROADBAND COMPETITION IN THE US 1/22/2007 by Nate Anderson The Center for Public Integrity (CPI) wants to find out exactly how competitive the US broadband market is. To do that, it needs access to the raw data collected by the FCC, but the agency has refused to turn it over on the grounds that it could give a competitive advantage to other companies. CPI now finds itself in a District Court battle against the agency, which is being supported by AT&T, Verizon, and the three major industry trade groups: NCTA (cable), CTIA (wireless), and USTA (telephone). more [thanks to Amy West for the link]