White House, The

President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to nominate key additions to his Administration:

• Vishal J. Amin of Michigan to be Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator in the Executive Office of the President. Mr. Amin is currently Senior Counsel on the House Judiciary Committee. Earlier in his career, he served in the Administration of President George W. Bush at the White House, as Associate Director for Domestic Policy, and at the U.S. Department of Commerce, as Special Assistant and Associate Director for Policy in the Office of the Secretary. He received his bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University and his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis.
• Neomi Rao of Washington, D.C. to be the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget. Ms. Rao is a professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University, where she founded and directs the Center for the Study of the Administrative State. Her research and teaching focuses on constitutional and administrative law. Currently a public member of the Administrative Conference of the United States, Ms. Rao has previously served in all three branches of the federal government. She served as Associate Counsel to President George W. Bush; counsel for nominations and constitutional law to the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary; and law clerk to Justice Clarence Thomas of the U.S. Supreme Court. She practiced public international law and arbitration at Clifford Chance LLP in London. Ms. Rao received her JD with high honors from the University of Chicago and her BA from Yale University.

This memorandum and the attachment provide an overview of the Executive branch's formal legislative coordination and clearance process. Adherence to the requirements of the clearance process serves the needs of the President by ensuring that agency legislative proposals and recommendations, as well as testimony, are consistent with his policies and programs.

We request that agency legislative proposals, letters, and testimony discussing or involving legislation be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as far in advance of a needed clearance as feasible. OMB runs a clearance process on these items, which requires sufficient time to review and coordinate with all relevant agencies, and offices in the Executive Office ofthe President. OMB Circular No. A-19 details the requirements and procedures for legislative coordination and clearance. The attachment summarizes the major elements and the essential purposes ofthe clearance process. We will be working with you to ensure the timely transmittal to Congress of legislative proposals necessary to support the President's legislative agenda and the Fiscal Year 2018 Budget. As decisions are made on these matters, we will be in contact about details related to the drafting, review, and clearance of these proposals.

It is the policy of the United States to alleviate unnecessary regulatory burdens placed on the American people.

Within 60 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency shall designate an agency official as its Regulatory Reform Officer (RRO). Each RRO shall oversee the implementation of regulatory reform initiatives and policies to ensure that agencies effectively carry out regulatory reforms. Each agency shall establish a Regulatory Reform Task Force. Each Regulatory Reform Task Force shall evaluate existing and make recommendations to the agency head regarding their repeal, replacement, or modification. At a minimum, each Regulatory Reform Task Force shall attempt to identify regulations that:

1. eliminate jobs, or inhibit job creation;
2. are outdated, unnecessary, or ineffective;
3. impose costs that exceed benefits;
4. create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with regulatory reform initiatives and policies;
5. are inconsistent with the requirements of section 515 of the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act, 2001 (44 U.S.C. 3516 note), or the guidance issued pursuant to that provision, in particular those regulations that rely in whole or in part on data, information, or methods that are not publicly available or that are insufficiently transparent to meet the standard for reproducibility; or
6. derive from or implement Executive Orders or other Presidential directives that have been subsequently rescinded or substantially modified.

Regulatory Cap for Fiscal Year 2017. (a) Unless prohibited by law, whenever an executive department or agency (agency) publicly proposes for notice and comment or otherwise promulgates a new regulation, it shall identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed. (b) For fiscal year 2017, which is in progress, the heads of all agencies are directed that the total incremental cost of all new regulations, including repealed regulations, to be finalized this year shall be no greater than zero, unless otherwise required by law or consistent with advice provided in writing by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget. (c) In furtherance of the requirement of subsection (a) of this section, any new incremental costs associated with new regulations shall, to the extent permitted by law, be offset by the elimination of existing costs associated with at least two prior regulations. Any agency eliminating existing costs associated with prior regulations under this subsection shall do so in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and other applicable law.

Over the past eight years, the President, the First Lady, and the Obama White House have used social media and technology to engage with people around the country and the world on the most important issues of our time. From the very beginning, our mission has been to reach people on the channels and platforms where they already spend their time. This work began before President Obama took office in 2009, and, now, this work will continue. As this Administration draws to a close, we wanted to share how you can continue to follow and engage with President Obama, the First Lady, and other Obama White House officials, as well as how you can find content posted over the past eight years after January 20, 2017. Moving forward, the President and First Lady can be followed on familiar handles: @BarackObama and @MichelleObama.

President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Sylvia Orozco, Appointee for Member, National Museum and Library Services Board: Sylvia Orozco is Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Mexic-Arte Museum of Austin (TX), positions she has held since 1984. Orozco served on the Advisory Board of the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center from 2008 to 2012 and the Mayor’s Community Cabinet in Austin from 2009 to 2011.

Annette Evans Smith, Appointee for Member, National Museum and Library Services Board: Annette Evans Smith joined the Alaska Native Heritage Center (ANHC) in 2003, and has served as its President and CEO since 2011.In 2012, Ms. Evans Smith worked on the legislation that established the Alaska Native Language Preservation and Advisory Council.

Deborah Taylor, Appointee for Member, National Museum and Library Service Board: Deborah Taylor is Coordinator of School and Student Services at the Enoch Pratt Free Library, where she has worked since 1974 in various additional roles including as a Branch Librarian and Head of the Office of Children and Youth. Taylor is a member of the Voice of Youth Advocates Editorial Advisory Board and served as President of the Young Adult Library Services Association and Chair of the Coretta Scott King Book Awards. She received the Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Practitioner Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Library Association in 2015.

Jonathan L. Zittrain, Appointee for Member, National Museum and Library Service Board: Jonathan L. Zittrain is a Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the George Bemis Professor of International Law at Harvard Law School, positions he has held since 2010 and 2008, respectively. Zittrain is also Vice Dean for Library and Information Resources at the Harvard Law School Library and Co-Founder and Faculty Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, positions he has held since 2012 and 1997, respectively.

At the end of October, we shared our plans for preserving and passing on the digital history of the Obama administration, and invited the American people to “come up with creative ways to archive this content and make it both useful and available for years to come.” The White House social media archive tells the story not just of how we’ve used these platforms to engage with people wherever they are, but also of how the digital landscape has changed over the past eight years. Citizens, students, companies, and organizations answered this call to action—and today we’re excited to share some of their innovative archival projects with you.

President Obama discussed the importance of fair competition in the marketplace. The principle of fair competition isn’t a Democratic or a Republican idea – it’s an American idea.

Over the past eight years, the Obama Administration has taken many actions to keep the marketplace fair, including: defending a free, open, and accessible internet; cracking down on conflicts of interest by making sure professionals who give retirement advice do so in the consumer’s best interest; and – just this week – standing up for beef, pork, and poultry growers when they’re treated unfairly. The President believes our free-market economy only works when there’s competition and rules are in place to keep it fair, open, and honest. That’s what this is all about – ensuring that everyone has a chance to compete by leveling the playing field and keeping the rules clear and consistent. President Obama defended his network neutrality legacy: "My administration has done a lot to keep the marketplace fair. We defended a free, open, and accessible internet that doesn't let service providers pick winners and losers."

Today, as part of Housing and Urban Development’s ConnectHome initiative to bring high-speed internet to low-income households with school-aged children in HUD-assisted housing, T-Mobile, the City of New York, and the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) have committed to do their part to close the digital divide in New York. I joined Mayor Bill De Blasio, NYCHA, and T-Mobile executives to announce that 5,000 internet-connected tablets will be given to families with children living in public housing in the Bronx.

As President Barack Obama has said, programs like ConnectHome work because community leaders, nonprofits, and the private sector are all stepping up to do their part. Success will require everyone to be involved and engaged to ensure a bright future for our children. At HUD, we are proud to answer the President’s call to action to open the doors of opportunity to every American.

Title III of the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-403 (the “PRO-IP Act,” or the “Act”), mandates a coordinated approach to intellectual property enforcement policy. The Act requires development of a three-year National plan on enforcement of laws protecting copyrights, patents, trademarks, trade secrets, and other forms of intellectual property, with an emphasis on combatting counterfeit and infringing goods in the domestic and international supply chains.

Raising public awareness and developing effective solutions begins with a detailed understanding of the nature of the problem presented. To advance a detailed understanding, the Act places special emphasis on teasing out the dimensions of the overall problem as part of the strategy-setting process. Specifically, the Act places as a core objective of the Strategic Plan the need to identify “structural weaknesses,” “systemic flaws,” and other “impediments” to effective IPR enforcement actions against the financing, production, trafficking, or sale of counterfeit or infringing goods.

The Strategic Plan is organized and divided into four main sections:

Section 1 provides an overview of how intellectual property serves as a material force behind U.S. economic growth, high-paying jobs, economic competitiveness, and creative expression.
Section 2 focuses on illicit IP-based activity in the online (digital) environment
Section 3 focuses on strategies designed to facilitate secure and lawful trade domestically and abroad.
Section 4 examines broader IP enforcement strategies
that bridge both online and trade-based threats, focusing on overarching governmental frameworks and policies that are critical to supporting robust intellectual property enforcement efforts in a rapidly changing environment.