The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has announced reforms to the ways the public may petition the agency for action. With immediate effect, the CFPB opened the ability to submit petitions for rulemaking to the public for the first time. The CFPB said that these reforms will help the public to better and more easily exercise their constitutional rights.
“Americans should be able to easily exercise their constitutional rights without hiring a high-priced lawyer or lobbyist,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said. “Our new program will broaden access to the agency’s rulemaking process.”
The new, open petitioning system is meant to help officials identify consumer protection issues that need to be addressed, reformed, or further clarified. Submitted petitions will be posted publicly and made available for additional comment from other members of the public. This new petitioning system allows for the public to request the creation of a rule or the amendment or removal of an existing rule. Prior to this change the public’s only direct means of interacting with the rulemaking process was through issuances of public inquiry or public comment after the rulemaking process had already begun.
This new access to rulemaking procedures brings the CFPB more in line with the recommendations issued by the Administrative Conference of the United States for improving transparency and ensuring that the public has meaningful opportunity to petition the government. This is meant to be part of a series of steps taken by the CFPB to diminish the effects of the “revolving door” of government which sees many former government officials taking high-paying lobbyist jobs.
The CFPB also continues to maintain its platforms for the public to submit complaints about financial products and services.