The Rahm Emanuel memo on regulations & an example of it's impact

First, here's the Emanuel memo, as published in the Federal Register:

January 26, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 15)]
[Notices]
[Page 4435-4436]

Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies

January 20, 2009, Washington, DC.
From: Rahm Emanuel, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
Subject: Regulatory Review

President Obama has asked me to communicate to each of you his plan for managing the Federal regulatory process at the beginning of his Administration. It is important that President Obama's appointees and designees have the opportunity to review and approve any new or pending regulations. Therefore, at the direction of the President, I am requesting that you immediately take the following steps:
1. Subject to any exceptions the Director or Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget (the ``OMB Director'') allows for emergency situations or other urgent circumstances relating to health, safety, environmental, financial, or national security matters, or otherwise, no proposed or final regulation should be sent to the Office of the Federal Register (the ``OFR'') for publication unless and until it has been reviewed and approved by a department or agency head appointed or designated by the President after noon on January 20, 2009, or in the case of the Department of Defense, the Secretary of Defense. The department or agency head may delegate this review and approval power to any other person so appointed or designated by the President, consistent with applicable law.
2. Withdraw from the OFR all proposed or final regulations that have not been published in the Federal Register so that they can be reviewed and approved by a department or agency head as described in paragraph 1. This withdrawal is subject to the exceptions described in paragraph 1 and must be conducted consistent with OFR procedures.
3. Consider extending for 60 days the effective date of regulations that have been published in the Federal Register but not yet taken effect, subject to the exceptions described in paragraph 1, for the purpose of reviewing questions of law and policy raised by those regulations. Where such an extension is made for this purpose, you should immediately reopen the notice-and-comment period for 30 days to
allow interested parties to provide comments about issues of law and policy raised by those rules. Following the 60-day extension:
a. For those rules that raise no substantial questions of law or policy, no further action needs to be taken; and
b. For those rules that raise substantial questions of law or policy, agencies should notify the OMB Director and take appropriate further action.
4. The requested actions set forth in paragraphs 1-3 do not apply to any regulations subject to statutory or judicial deadlines. Please immediately notify the OMB Director of any such regulations.
5. Notify the OMB Director promptly of any regulations that you believe should not be subject to the directives in paragraphs 1-3 because they affect critical health, safety, environmental, financial, or national security functions of the department or agency, or for some other reason. The OMB Director will review all such notifications and determine whether an exception is appropriate.
6. Continue in all instances to comply with any applicable Executive Orders concerning regulatory management.
As used in this memorandum, ``regulation'' has the meaning set forth in section 3(e) of Executive Order 12866 of September 30, 1993, as amended; this memorandum covers ``any substantive action by an agency (normally published in the Federal Register) that promulgates or is expected to lead to the promulgation of a final rule or regulation, including notices of inquiry, advance notices of proposed rulemaking, and notices of proposed rulemaking.''
This regulatory review will be implemented by the OMB Director, and communications regarding any matters pertaining to this review should be addressed to that official.
The OMB Director is authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

And here's an example in how it has affected the Forest Service:

[FR Doc. E9-1639 Filed 1-23-09; 8:45 am]

January 29, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 18)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 5107]

Sale and Disposal of National Forest System Timber; Special Forest Products and Forest Botanical Products

AGENCY: Forest Service, USDA.

ACTION: Final rule; notice of delay of effective date and comment period.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Review,'' published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2009, the Department is delaying the effective date and opening for public comment, the rule published on December 29, 2008. This rule regulates the sustainable free use, commercial harvest, and sale of special forest products and forest botanical products from National Forest System lands. The December rule was originally set to take effect January 28, 2009.

DATES: Effective January 28, 2009, the effective date of the rule amending 36 CFR parts 223 and 261 published at 73 FR 79367, December 29, 2008, is delayed until March 30, 2009. Comments must be received by March 2, 2009.

ADDRESSES: The public may send comments to USDA Forest Service, FM, Director, 201 14th Street, SW., Mailstop 1103, Washington, DC 20024, or by e-mail to wospecialproducts@fs.fed.us.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Fitzgerald, Forest Service, Forest Management Staff, (202) 205-1753. Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the memorandum of January 20, 2009, from the Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, entitled ``Regulatory Review,'' published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2009, 74 FR 4435, the Department is delaying the effective date and opening for public comment, the rule entitled ``Sale and Disposal of National Forest System Timber; Special Forest Products and Forest Botanical Products'', that was published in the Federal Register
on December 29, 2008, 73 FR 79367.
The Department is seeking comment from the public on any issues or concerns on the policy raised by the December rule. The December rule is needed to promote sustainability in light of the increased public demands for both timber and non-timber special forest products and forest botanical products over the past 10 years. In many cases, these demands are challenging sustainability, particularly in the most heavily used parts of the National Forest System. The December rule will help ensure the continued sustainability of special forest products and forest botanical products.

One still has to wonder why the Bushies waited to the last minute to propose many of these regulations, and was too incompetent to meet the deadlines. I guess 8 years notice wasn't enough.