HHS Removes Notice and Public Comment Requirements

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has repealed an obscure requirement called the Richardson Waiver, which requires a period of notice and an opportunity for public comment on a range of decisions related to agency management, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Medicaid, personnel, public property, loans, grants, benefits, and contracts, CNN reported. Overall, the Richardson Waiver states HHS should only make decisions without public notice sparingly. 

Since 1971, the Richardson Waiver has been enforced and imposes notice-and-comment periods above and beyond those required from the Administrative Procedures Act. But on Friday, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) posted a notice to the Federal Register, which said the requirement of the waiver imposes extra costs and slows the department down. 

RFK’s notice alarmed open government advocates, who fear the department will make decisions in secrecy. The waiver was also cited earlier this month by state attorneys general as one argument in their legal challenge seeking to block the NIH’s cuts to research funding, CBS News reported. They quoted the first Trump administration supporting the waiver in a 2020 post by the department to the Federal Register.