In the wake of the recent crises in the banking industry, Congress has passed two major statutes affecting the relationship among the four principal banking regulators (the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and the Office of Thrift Supervision) and the industries they supervise.1 In 1989, the Financial...
Historical Recommendations (1968 - 1995)
- Recommendation number: 93-2
- Adopted on: June 10, 1993
- Tags: Appeals, Bank Regulation, Congress, Judicial Review
- Recommendation number: 93-3
- Adopted on: June 11, 1993
- Tags: Grant Programs
Governments in most industrialized nations now play a prominent role in assembling and sustaining a sound scientific and engineering infrastructure and in providing financial support for artistic and other endeavors. Although many procedural vehicles exist for making the difficult scientific and artistic judgments that necessarily arise in apportioning limited resources, the United States government has...
- Recommendation number: 93-4
- Adopted on: December 9, 1993
- Tags: Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Congress, Judicial Review, Rulemaking
Informed observers generally agree that the rulemaking process has become both increasingly less effective and more time-consuming. The Administrative Procedure Act does not reflect many of the current realities of rulemaking. The APA’s cumbersome “formal rulemaking” procedures are rarely used except in some adjudicative-type rate proceedings. Meanwhile, the APA’s simple “informal rulemaking” procedures (set...
- Recommendation number: 93-5
- Adopted on: December 10, 1993
- Tags: Adjudication, Congress, Enforcement, Science
The Re-registration Process
The re-registration of existing pesticides under contemporary risk assessment standards, and the removal of unacceptable pesticides from the marketplace, are examples where procedures can hinder the agency’s prospects for success in its substantive mission. Re-registration of existing pesticides, which Congress originally directed to be completed by...
- Recommendation number: 92-1
- Adopted on: December 18, 1992
- Tags: Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Rulemaking
The Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553, establishes the procedural requirements for notice-and-comment rulemaking. It requires that an agency generally publish notice and provide opportunity for public comment before adopting a rule. The section also provides for a number of specific exemptions. One of these exemptions in subsection (b)(A), provides that the requirements for notice and comment do not apply to "...
- Recommendation number: 92-2
- Adopted on: June 18, 1992
- Tags: Administrative Procedure Act (APA), Rulemaking
This recommendation addresses use of agency policy statements. Policy statements fall within the category of agency actions that are “rules” within the Administrative Procedure Act’s definition because they constitute “the whole or a part of an agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or describe law or policy,” 5 U.S.C. 551(4). “Rules”...
- Recommendation number: 92-3
- Adopted on: June 18, 1992
- Tags: Congress, Enforcement
Background
The 1968 Fair Housing Act outlaws various types of discrimination in the sale or rental of residential housing. It prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, and covers sale and rental of residential housing, refusal to deal, and a number of related actions. In 1988, Congress amended the Fair Housing Act, by altering...
- Recommendation number: 92-4
- Adopted on: June 19, 1992
Since the 1960s, the federal government has established numerous service programs to help meet the needs of migrant farm workers. From the early days, migrants have been considered a uniquely federal responsibility, primarily because of their interstate movement, which makes it hard for the workers and their families to qualify for local assistance and disrupts other services like schooling for the children...
- Recommendation number: 92-5
- Adopted on: June 19, 1992
- Tags: Congress
Congress first waived the government’s immunity from attorney’s fee awards in the Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA), 5 U.S.C. 504, 28 U.S.C. 2412(d), in 1980 and reenacted the Act in 1985. The EAJA authorizes certain private parties that prevail in non-tort civil litigation against the United States in both courts and agencies to recover their fees and expenses. No recovery is allowed, however, if the...
- Recommendation number: 92-6
- Adopted on: June 19, 1992
- Tags: Congress
In 1981, Congress agreed to the Administration’s proposal to cease funding for the Office of Noise Abatement and Control (ONAC) in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Congress, however, did not repeal the Noise Control Act1 when it eliminated ONAC’s funding.
Before the elimination of ONAC, EPA engaged in a wide variety of activities to abate noise pollution under...