00:00Mr. Larson. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Dye, according to the budget request,
00:06most of the rulemakings have been completed as part of the OSRA. Can you report on the
00:11progress of the remaining rulemakings? On the remaining rulemakings?
00:19Remaining rulemakings. We have made good progress on exchanges.
00:25We have a couple things to check out before we can complete this registration process.
00:33And the remaining discrimination parts that were not addressed in the refusal to deal rule,
00:44we have begun those as well. And do you have a timeline,
00:49a prospective timeline, a hopeful timeline? I would say as soon as we can turn our attention to it.
00:59Yeah. Related to that, I know the FMC's lost employees, and by our count, it's about 20%,
01:08and whether it's 20% or 19% or 21%, it's a lot. It doesn't make much difference.
01:13It doesn't make much difference. Could you outline the impacts to the loss of those folks,
01:19and not then replacing folks, as had on the work of the FMC?
01:23Well, as I reported, we are working with OPM on an exception for six employees.
01:34Not new hires, but to replace people who have left. We believe with those, that we'll be in good shape.
01:48Yeah. And what is the pro… Do you sense there's progress on getting those new hires?
01:55Getting them hired? That we want authority to hire those six.
02:03Okay. To replace. As they say, we don't really consider those new hires.
02:08Okay. Because they're…
02:09I understand. I'm not arguing that point. It's more about whether OPM is
02:15being helpful in moving that forward. Very much. Very much.
02:18Yeah. And are there people at OPM, enough people at OPM to help you do that? Do you feel like you're
02:23getting the service you need from OPM? Did you get that done?
02:26They will grant us the exemption to hire. Of course, the head of agency, which my
02:41general counsel informs me that we have plenty of authority, the three of us, to make decisions
02:48and to operate. And we'd have to, of course, we'd have to oversee any hirings.
02:59Yeah. Are you, Lynn, looking at whether or not being short that number of folks is impacting the
03:07length of time it takes you to do any one investigation, the length of time it takes you to manage your rulemaking?
03:12No. No. I think that we're… and I think my colleagues agree that we're… we're in good shape.
03:22Yeah. Finally, Section 10 of the OSRA established the charge complaint process.
03:29Right.
03:29And according to budget requests, the FMC is ordered to return over two and a half
03:33millions in refunds or canceled fees. Is that accurate?
03:37Yes.
03:38Okay. Can you talk a little bit about why you're returning those?
03:45Well, we had, we had, I think, a little five, five, a little over $5 million that was returned.
03:53But as I said, the good news is that when the process began, many of the fees were returned voluntarily.
04:03Mm-hmm. How would you rate that as a marker of the success of the enforcement program? In general,
04:11how would you rate the success of the enforcement program?
04:14I think, I think that some people believe that you write a regulation or you pass a law,
04:21and it's effective, and people obey it. And if that were true, then there wouldn't need to be any
04:28law enforcement agencies. So it takes, especially when there's a big change. It takes time and resources
04:39and commitment. Demerge and detention charges are internationally despised.
04:46Yeah.
04:47And when we waited in on this, we knew it would be a hard slog. It's not over. But I think that we've had
04:58remarkable compliance so far. And we'll keep at it. I honestly, I've said to my advisory committee,
05:08can't you think of a better way to get fluidity or encourage fluidity than these awful charges?
05:18There must be a better approach because it's, it's the clunky type of service.
05:28Thank you. I'm sure that, I'm, I'm sure one of the parents of OSRA 22 will have more questions.
05:34Mr. Jeremy will have more questions.
05:36I'll look forward to it.
05:36I'll yield back.
05:38Gentlemen, Yales Chair.
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