"ACUS is a public-private partnership designed to make the government work better"
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
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A. Agency Efforts
1. Federal agencies should engage more extensively in affirmative, self-initiated efforts to ascertain directly from the poor their views with respect to rulemaking that may affect them substantially. For this purpose, agencies should make strong efforts, by use of existing as well as newly devised procedures, to obtain...
There has been a documented increase in the volume of regulatory activity during the last months of presidential terms.[1] This includes an increase in the number of legislative rules (normally issued under the Administrative Procedure Act’s (APA) notice and comment procedures)...
As part of the Social Security program, Congress has authorized the Social Security Administration (SSA) to pay certain beneficiaries’ benefits to other persons or organizations where the Secretary determines payment to such a “representative payee” would be in the interest of the beneficiary.1...
The Program, which became effective October 1, 1988, is unique among federal benefit programs in its organizational structure and decision-making processes. It was intended to provide an alternative to the tort system for dealing with claims of vaccine-related injury, awarding compensation quickly, fairly, and efficiently. It was also intended to...
New biotechnology techniques promise great benefits in fields such as medicine, agriculture, and manufacturing. However, these new techniques, which involve alteration of the genetic structure of an organism, have raised concerns that some new organisms or products may be dangerous to individuals or detrimental to the environment. This...
Private sector employees who make disclosures concerning health and safety matters pertaining to the workplace are protected against retaliatory actions by over a dozen Federal laws. By common usage these employees, as well as others who make similar disclosures concerning fraud or other misconduct (but who are beyond the Conference’s current study...
There is widespread interest in Congress and the Executive Branch in instituting user fees in certain government programs. Although a general user fee statute (31 U.S.C. 9701) dates to 1952, recent studies, including a report of the President’s Private Sector Survey on Cost Control, have urged expanded application of such fees. In light of these...
Each year manufacturers recall millions of consumer products—ranging from toys and household appliances to drugs and autos—under an array of Federal health and safety statutes. Most recalls are undertaken voluntarily, either on the...
In Recommendation 79-6, adopted in December 1979, the Conference criticized the then current version of the so-called Bumpers Amendment to Section 706 of the Administrative Procedure Act. At that time, the Conference, expressing its belief that concern about the broad substantive reach of the rules of a host of agencies cannot be effectively...