Vol. 3 No. 10 August 2006

EDA Publishes Final Rule in Federal Register The Economic Development Administration is pleased to announce the publication of its Final Rule in the Federal Register, at 71 FR 56658. You may access the Final Rule directly at the link provided below. The publication of EDA's regulations, resulting from its October 2004 reauthorization, culminates a nearly two-year collaborative effort involving all of EDA's stakeholders, including Congress, Economic Development Districts and EDA staff across all of its six regional offices. Among the highlights of the regulations: EDA received 6,160 total public comments on individual regulations from approximately 1,100 individual public commenters. The Final Rule includes a preamble that responds to these comments and discusses the additional changes made to the regulations from the Interim Final Rule published in December 2005. The Final Rule maintains without change those regulatory provisions that implement the Congressional guidance set out in the Conference Report to the FY 2006 Commerce Appropriations Act. The Final Rule contains world-class, best-practice guidelines for the development and implementation of a Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS). A summary of the CEDS guidelines is available in a newly published "CEDS Summary" at the link provided below. The publication of the CEDS Summary and the Final Rule underscores EDA's continuing commitment to its Partnership Planning Program. Among the other components of this commitment: At $27 million, annual funding for the Partnership Planning Program is the highest in EDA history (based on a percentage of overall EDA funding). For the first time in EDA history, all recognized Economic Development Districts will be funded by EDA – and EDA continues to approve the designation of additional Districts. For the first time in a generation, EDA is devoting scarce research dollars towards bolstering the Partnership Planning Program. EDA has awarded a research grant to develop a new regional economic development curriculum for the benefit of local development officials and District staff. EDA officials, led by the Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, are meeting with Economic Development District directors face-to-face as they travel across America. These town-hall style forums are designed for the EDDs to share their thoughts and concerns regarding EDA. These enhancements to the Partnership Planning Program are part of EDA's efforts to improve EDA operations and organizational structures nationwide and across all six regional offices, and will bolster EDA's ability to deliver quality services to our stakeholders. For more information on EDA's Final Rule and the Partnership Planning Program, please go to www.eda.gov or contact Hina Shaikh hshaikh@eda.doc.gov regarding the Final Rule or Marco Puccia at mpuccia@eda.doc.gov regarding the Partnership Planning Program. » Link to EDA's Final Rule (PDF) » Link to the CEDS Summary (PDF) ###