Government Creates Database to Track People Who Comment Publicly
Published Date: 1/17/2025
Notice
Summary
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is setting up a new system to keep track of public comments on its Federal Register posts. This means if you send a comment, your info will be stored safely and used to help OPM improve its rules and notices. The system starts now, with some parts kicking in fully by February 18, 2025, so get ready to share your thoughts or check out others’!
Free Policy Watch
New rules are filed every week. Most people never see them.
Pick a topic. PRIA watches every federal rule and tells you when one hits your household.
Pick a topic to get started
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 2 costs, 1 mixed.
OPM Will Store Your Public Comments
If you submit a public comment to OPM and provide identifying information, OPM will store your name, personal and business contact information, and your comment in a system called OPM/Internal--29 starting January 17, 2025. The records are kept electronically at OPM in Washington, DC and at the GSA National Computer Center in Research Triangle Park, NC.
Comments May Be Shared Widely
If you provided identifying information with your OPM comment, OPM may disclose those records in proceedings or to outside parties including courts, the Department of Justice, law enforcement, members of Congress, the National Archives (NARA), contractors, other agencies, and the General Services Administration to operate the eRulemaking system. These routine uses are effective February 18, 2025.
Permanent Retention and Access Rights
Comments on rulemakings are retained permanently under OPM's NARA-approved schedule (DAA-0478-2017-0002-0001); comments on SORNs are retained for 2 years after supersession and other notices' records for 1 year. You can request access or request amendments by sending a Privacy Act Records Access Request or Privacy Act Amendment Request that includes your full name, date of birth, contact preference, and signature to the OPM FOIA/Privacy contact.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this regulation affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this federal register document and every other regulation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Key Dates
Take It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Take the PRIA Score to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in