RFP: design open federal regulations

Rogue archivist Carl Malamud sez,

Public.Resource.Org is pleased to announce an RFP for an Enhanced Code of Federal Regulations. The purpose of this project, which is funded by the Sunlight Foundation, is to "Incorporate by Inclusion" all technical standards that have been "Incorporated by Reference" into the regulations of the U.S.government.

Casual readers of federal regulations may be astounded by the scope of these "Incorporated by Reference" standards. They govern some of the most fundamental aspects of what is law, such as "how much lead is too much in a pipe?" and "is this life vest safe?"

This effort builds on last year's "Code City," which released public safety codes (building, fire, plumbing, boiler, elevator, electrical) for public use. These public safety codes, also incorporated by reference, are the counterpart at the state and local level of the current effort to open up federal law to make it open and transparent for all.

Codes is law.

RFP: Enhanced Code of Federal Regulations (Thanks, Carl!)

[#1 posted by morcheeba, June 3, 2009 7:32 AM]

I think this hits do-it-yourselfers the hardest. Companies can usually afford to buy copies of the regulations (despite what an ill taste it leaves in the mouth) and recoup the costs over a larger project. Individuals do one-off projects and are left guessing. For example, I made a motorcycle tail light. Through my office, I had all the properly calibrated equipment to test it to make sure it was bright enough (and not too bright)... but to learn the rules would have cost me hundreds of dollars - much more than the project itself cost. I could have gone with an outdated used copy of the standard for $200 on ebay, but that left me no guarantee of compliance and was still too costly. All I needed was about 3 pages of information out of hundreds in the standard.

So, what's a solution? I understand that some groups are better at making sensible regulations than lawmakers -- as long as there isn't a conflict-of-interest or self-regulation. The government should do these as works-for-hire so that they own the copyright. I don't understand why this isn't done; otherwise these standards organizations are essentially collecting a private tax on all people that need to read the laws.

[#2 posted by josephlrc, June 3, 2009 8:55 AM]

Morcheeba, I hear you and have had good luck with local libraries in this respect. Occaisonally I have had to check a local university library, and for this reason I suggest always hiring an intern...