Policy: More formal rulemaking?

From PrawfsBlawg, "Regulatory Changes, Part 1" by Bill Araiza (Brooklyn):

It's interesting when everything you thought was settled in a field you teach is suddenly up for grabs.   Administrative law professors have been thinking a lot about recent proposed changes to the administrative process, some of which unsettle forty year-old understandings, and others of which reach back and significantly amend the Administrative Procedure Act itself. ... I'll start with one example.  One of the primary reform bills under consideration, the Regulatory Flexibility Act (S. 1606/H.R. 3010), mandates a formal hearing concerning the agency's use of data supporting the proposed rule when a party makes out a prima facie case that the agency has misused that data or used bad data.  It then seems to require a second formal hearing on the merits of the rule itself. ... To my knowledge there's no administrative law scholar who favors increased emphasis on formal rulemaking, at least not as a general matter.  It will be interesting to see if, after all this time and all this consensus, this and other such changes get serious hearings, either before or after the election.

EMM