Report Details Federal Regulatory Plans : 17 Agencies Tell of Rules for 1986 on Hundreds of Diverse Issues

The Reagan Administration on Thursday released a voluminous report detailing the complex regulatory plans of 17 federal agencies in the coming year on hundreds of issues, ranging from AIDS testing to a new definition of barbecue.

The first federal regulatory program report, hereafter to be released annually, was prepared as part of the Administration’s overall effort to manage regulatory programs, assess their impact on the nation’s economy and make them more accountable to taxpayers.

“Government officials must choose the right regulatory tools and identify legitimate needs for regulation as opposed to those that merely benefit special interests,” President Reagan said in a letter to Congress, included as a preface to the report.

Rapidly increasing federal regulations had cost taxpayers more than $100 billion in 1980 and were a key factor in the sluggishness of the economy, the Administration has complained.

In 1981, Reagan signed an executive order that increased the role of the Office of Management and Budget to oversee agency rule making. Last January, he issued a new order that essentially allows OMB to review agency proposals before they are published for public comment.

But Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) challenged the 616-page report as “vindication for those regulators who choose to do nothing” and justification for OMB “to direct and control those regulators who choose to do something.”

Omissions Called Critical

Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, added that a subcommittee of his panel is investigating whether “the execution and administration of laws enacted by Congress are hampered or adversely affected by OMB in its implementation of this regulatory program.” He sent his comments to Reagan last month after reviewing draft portions of the report.

“What’s critical is what’s not there,” David Plocher, staff attorney for OMB Watch, a nonprofit OMB watchdog group, said of the report. “What it doesn’t do is give the public or Congress any idea of what OMB has told the agencies they can’t do.”

Among the policies cited in the report as desirable:

--The Department of Health and Human Services plans to publish a rule this month to make the testing of all blood and plasma mandatory to ensure the continued safety of the nation’s blood supply from the deadly disease AIDS.

--The Interior Department plans to publish a final rule in October to answer California’s 1981 complaints that onshore air quality will be affected by offshore development of oil and gas reserves.

--The Federal Aviation Administration will decide by this fall whether to take action to require that pilots of lightweight aircraft be certified.

--The Agriculture Department plans to rule on a petition from a manufacturer that says his product is excluded by current standards for barbecue equipment.