On Monday, federal agencies released their semiannual Unified Agenda of regulatory and deregulatory actions. The fall version of the Unified Agenda also includes agencies' annual Regulatory Plan. The Unified Agenda lists all of the rules an agency is in the process of considering. It also lists regulatory actions completed since the last Unified Agenda and potential long-term actions. The Regulatory Plan includes only the most important actions an agency is considering and includes a more detailed description of those rules and regulations. Entries in both the Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan include timetables for completion of rules. This year, the Unified Agenda has gone paperless. Instead of being published in the Federal Register, Unified Agenda entries are now available in a searchable database housed at RegInfo.gov, a website run by the General Services Administration and OMB. Since the Unified Agenda has gone paperless, you will also be unable to find entries in the PDF version of the Federal Register on the Government Printing Office website. The more-detailed Regulatory Plan is still being published in the Federal Register. Also, if a rule is expected to have an impact on a substantial number of small businesses, (even if it is not included in the Regulatory Plan,) it must still be published in the Federal Register. (The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires agencies to publish these kinds of rules in the Federal Register.) A GovExec.com article says the shift to online publication of the Unified Agenda will save the government $800,000. Also from the article: "The Unified Regulatory Agenda and annual Regulatory Plan will be more accessible on the Internet in an enhanced user-friendly, searchable database format," said Susan Dudley, administrator of OMB's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. She said that in addition to improving transparency, the transition should "increase the public's access to the rule-making process." Kudos to the government officials responsible for making this switch. Reg•Watch hopes they continue to find ways to use technology to make the regulatory process more accessible to the public.