[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 92 (Tuesday, May 13, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25503-25504]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-11844]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS

38 CFR Part 2

RIN 2900-AL61


Delegations of Authority; Office of Regulation Policy and 
Management (ORPM)

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: This document sets forth a delegation of authority to the 
Assistant to the Secretary for Regulation Policy and Management to 
manage and coordinate the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) 
rulemaking process. The delegation is necessary to transfer certain 
rulemaking responsibilities to the newly-formed Office of Regulation 
Policy and Management in the Office of the Secretary. The delegation of 
authority is intended to improve the organization, clarity, and 
timeliness of VA regulations through centralized management and 
control. This document also makes minor technical amendments to a 
current delegation of authority that concerns the provision of relief 
on account of administrative error.

DATES: Effective Date: May 13, 2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert C. McFetridge, Director, 
Regulations Management (00REG1), Department of Veterans Affairs, 810 
Vermont Avenue, NW., Washington, DC, 20420 telephone (202) 273-9215.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Secretary of Veterans Affairs has 
established an Office of Regulation Policy and Management (ORPM) to 
provide centralized management and coordination of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs' (VA) rulemaking process. The office is led by an 
Assistant to the Secretary for Regulation Policy and Management 
(ASRPM), who is responsible for improving existing VA regulations and 
establishing procedures to ensure future regulations can be more easily 
read, understood, and applied. The delegation of authority contained in 
this final rule will permit the ASRPM to manage and coordinate the VA's 
rulemaking process.
    The ASRPM is performing two major functions for the Department. 
First, he is leading the VA's Regulation Rewrite Project. The 
Regulation Rewrite Project (the Project) is a comprehensive effort to 
improve the clarity and consistency of existing VA regulations. 
Currently, the Project is reviewing, reorganizing, and redrafting over 
275 regulations in 38 CFR Part 3. These Compensation and Pension 
regulations are among the most difficult VA regulations for readers to 
understand and apply. Approximately 15 VA employees, temporarily 
detailed to the Project from the Office of General Counsel; Veterans 
Benefits Administration, Compensation and Pension Service; and Board of 
Veterans Appeals, are working in rotating teams seeking to complete 
this assignment over a 2-year period. The Secretary created the Project 
to respond to the Secretary's VA Claims Processing Task Force (Task 
Force) recommendation that Compensation and Pension regulations needed 
to be rewritten and reorganized in order to improve the VA's claims 
process. The Task Force found that ``the problems identified 20 years 
ago remain today, and the promise to correct them is unfulfilled.'' The 
Task Force further recommended that the task of reorganizing and 
simplifying VA regulations ``should be an immediate priority.'' 
Consequently, the Secretary is delegating responsibility to the ASRPM 
to manage the Department's revision and reorganization of VA 
regulations.
    Second, the ASRPM is responsible for devising and implementing new 
procedures to centralize control and improve Secretarial oversight, 
management, drafting efficiency, policy resolution, impact analysis, 
and coordination of diverse VA regulations. In the past, VA rulemaking 
procedures have varied among the Department's three major 
administrations, the Veterans Health Administration, the Veterans 
Benefits Administration, and the National Cemetery Administration, and 
among the Department's staff offices. The Secretary approved the 
creation of ORPM to serve as the centralized rulemaking policy and 
management structure in the Office of the Secretary. In this document, 
the Secretary is delegating authority to the ASRPM to manage and 
coordinate the Department's rulemaking activities.
    As an Assistant to the Secretary, the ASRPM will help the Secretary 
integrate and resolve significant policy issues affecting VA 
regulations early in the drafting process. The ASRPM will serve as the 
Executive Secretary to the Secretary's Regulatory Policy Council (the 
Council), which will ensure that the Department's rulemaking proposals 
support the Secretary's priorities for assisting America's veterans. 
The Council will consist of the Secretary, the

[[Page 25504]]

Deputy Secretary, the Under Secretary for Health, the Under Secretary 
for Benefits, the Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, and other 
senior officials who will serve as advisory members on an ad hoc basis 
when necessary to address specific issues.
    The Secretary also is designating the ASRPM as the Department's 
Regulatory Policy Officer in accordance with Executive Order 12866. 
Section 6(a) of the Executive Order requires Federal agencies to 
designate a Regulatory Policy Officer who shall report to the agency 
head. The Regulatory Policy Officer is to be involved in each stage of 
the regulatory process to foster the development of effective, 
innovative, and least burdensome regulations and to further the 
principles set forth in the Executive Order. With the establishment of 
ORPM, the ASRPM is assuming those responsibilities from the General 
Counsel.
    This document also makes minor technical amendments to 38 CFR 2.7, 
which is a delegation of authority that concerns the provision of 
relief on account of administrative error.

Administrative Procedure Act

    This document is being published as a final rule pursuant to 5 
U.S.C. 553, which excepts matters pertaining to internal agency 
management and personnel from its notice, comment, and delayed 
effective date requirements.

Unfunded Mandates

    The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act requires, at 2 U.S.C. 1532, that 
agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and benefits before 
developing any rule that may result in an expenditure by State, local, 
or tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the private sector, of 
$100 million or more in any given year. This final rule will have no 
consequential effect on State, local, or tribal governments.

Paperwork Reduction Act

    This document contains no provisions constituting a collection of 
information under the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521).

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Secretary hereby certifies that this regulatory amendment will 
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small 
entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 601-612. This amendment would not directly affect any small 
entities. Only individuals could be directly affected. Therefore, 
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), this amendment is exempt from the initial 
and final regulatory flexibility analysis requirements of sections 603-
604.

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

    There are no Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance program numbers 
for this rule.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 2

    Authority delegations (Government agencies).

    Approved: May 2, 2003.
Anthony J. Principi,
Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

0
For the reasons set forth in the preamble, 38 CFR part 2 is amended as 
follows:

PART 2--DELEGATIONS OF AUTHORITY

0
1. The authority citation for part 2 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 5 U.S.C. 302, 552a; 38 U.S.C. 501, 512, 515, 1729, 
1729A, 5711; 44 U.S.C. 3702, unless otherwise noted.


0
2. Section 2.6 is amended by adding paragraph (l) and an authority 
citation at the end of the section to read as follows:


Sec.  2.6  Secretary's delegations of authority to certain officials 
(38 U.S.C. 512).

* * * * *
    (l) Assistant to the Secretary, Office of Regulation Policy and 
Management. The Assistant to the Secretary for Regulation Policy and 
Management (ASRPM) is delegated authority:
    (1) To act on all matters assigned to the Office of Regulation 
Policy and Management, except such matters as require the personal 
attention or action of the Secretary or the Secretary's Regulatory 
Policy Council.
    (2) To manage and coordinate the Department's rulemaking 
activities, including the revision and reorganization of regulations.
    (3) To serve as the Regulatory Policy Officer for the Department's 
rulemaking activities in accordance with Executive Order 12866.

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, 512)

0
3. Section 2.7 is amended by:
0
A. In the first sentence of paragraph (b), removing ``210(c)(3)'' and 
adding, in its place, ``503(b)'' and removing ``widow'' and adding, in 
its place, ``surviving spouse''.
0
B. Adding an authority citation at the end of the section.
    The addition reads as follows:


Sec.  2.7  Delegation of authority to provide relief on account of 
administrative error.

* * * * *

(Authority: 38 U.S.C. 503, 512)

[FR Doc. 03-11844 Filed 5-12-03; 8:45 am]
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