FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 29, 2002 CONTACT Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 E-Rulemaking workshop aims to build cross-agency alliances and an academic research agenda for digital government A political scientist at Drake University is bringing together government workers, IT industry representatives, fellow academics and some of his students for a workshop on "e-Rulemaking," in an attempt to foster cross-agency collaboration and new research partnerships. Twelve Drake University undergraduate students taking Stuart Shulman's June 2-10 Washington, D.C., Summer Study Seminar on “National Environmental Policy” will participate in the workshop. The workshop is the second in two years organized by Shulman, an "e-Rulemaking" researcher and member of the National Science Foundation sponsored “Digital Government Organization” (www.diggov.org). A year ago, Shulman convened a similar meeting attended by representatives of seven federal agencies. This year, the daylong meeting will be held Monday, June 10, on the campus of National Defense University (www.ndu.edu), located at Ft. McNair, in Washington, D.C. The workshop is sponsored by Drake University. E-rulemaking is a relatively new concept in government. It involves using the Internet to seek input from the public about proposed rules. For example, in 1997, the U.S. Department of Agriculture created a Web site for its National Organic Program, which was trying to create the standard rules for organic agriculture. "The USDA was one of the first agencies to allow people to comment and read other comments over the Web about the proposed rules. They received over 277,000 comments," Shulman said. "Rulemaking is the most democratic and accessible form of policy making in the U.S. federal government. Government administrative procedure makes rulemaking open to everyone, and the Internet vastly expands the potential for public input and deliberation." Despite reservations about security and cost, the pace of e-Rulemaking is accelerating in Washington among politicians and policy makers, Shulman says. For example, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) is promoting an e-Government Act, while Mitch Daniels, director of the Office of Management and Budget, is urging all agencies to adopt a uniform approach to using the Internet to streamline rulemaking. The June 10 workshop is one of several recent opportunities for representatives of different agencies to work together to develop e-Rulemaking capacity, Shulman says. So far, officials from the Department of Transportation (DOT), USDA, OMB, NSF and the Department of Commerce have committed to attending, though Shulman expects other agencies will be represented as well. The workshop, limited to 40 participants, will feature demonstrations and hands-on simulations in NDU’s computer labs, using the DOT's award-winning Docket Management System (DMS) http://dms.dot.gov/. There also will be discussions about: the future of e-Rulemaking, information storage, security, retrieval, analysis, privacy, democratic participation and deliberation, interagency collaboration, portal uniformity, use-ability and seamlessness. For more information, please contact: Dr. Stuart Shulman Assistant Professor of Environmental Science and Policy Drake University, Des Moines, IA Phone: 515-271-4801; E-mail: stuart.shulman@drake.edu Dr. Shulman’s Home Page: http://www.drake.edu/artsci/faculty/sshulman/ Dr. Shulman’s e-Rulemaking Research Page: http://www.drake.edu/artsci/faculty/sshulman/NSF/research.htm