1,700 Pages of Rules, Fewer Dead Trees

"The one that is easier to use is in the eye of the beholder," said Ray Mosley, director of the Office of the Federal Register.

So far, two editions of the agenda and the administration's priority statement for the year are on RegInfo.gov. By early next year, users will be able to peruse 25 years' worth of listings.

Last spring's agenda totaled 1,523 pages and contained 3,823 items, the first time in 19 years that the number of entries has been lower than 4,000, according to the General Services Administration, which worked on the project with the OMB. The new edition has 3,882 entries.

The first such agenda was published by the Federal Register in October 1982, at 383 pages. It had bulked up to 1,173 by spring 1986.

Some members of Congress used to stack the printed volumes on hearing tables as made-for-the-camera evidence that the government regulated too much. Those theatrics are over, unless someone wants to print out the electronic version.

The agenda is available on two other government sites. The Federal Register is still required to print two categories of rules, offering the partial agenda and plan in print and at http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/index.html.

The other site is http://www.regulations.gov, the electronic docket for commenting on rules.

"Transitions are always tough, but this moving from paper to electronic seems to be harder than it should be," said Sally Katzen, former head of the White House regulatory branch who is running a committee to examine a separate "e-government" project that hasn't lived up to expectations.

"This moves the country to be more involved in the regulatory process and saves the government money," said the GSA's Kevin Messner. The savings are estimated at $800,000 a year, at $300 a printed page.

Matthew Madia, federal regulatory policy analyst for OMB Watch, a nonprofit group in Washington that monitors regulatory policy, said he encountered glitches on RegInfo.gov. Still, he said it's an improvement over older search systems.

The alternative, after all, is flipping through thousands of printed pages on complicated, highly contested issues.

Cindy Skrzycki is a regulatory columnist for Bloomberg News. She can be reached atcskrzycki@bloomberg.net.