Rulemaking

Agencies adopt rules to implement, interpret, and prescribe law and policy and to describe their organization, procedure, and practice requirements. The Administrative Procedure Act specifies basic procedures that agencies generally must follow when they make rules. Other authorities specify additional procedures, including the Congressional Review Act, the E-Government Act, and rulemaking requirements from the Executive Office of the President.

ACUS has adopted dozens of recommendations and produced many other resources to help agencies manage rulemaking. Select a category below to access individual recommendations, reports, and other resources:

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2021-8, Technical Reform of the Congressional Review Act

Publications and Reports

Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking
Jesse M. Cross, Technical Reform of the Congressional Review Act (Nov. 30, 2021)
Morton Rosenberg, The Critical Need for Effective Congressional Review of Agency Rules: Background and Considerations for Incremental Reform (July 18, 2012)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 80-4, Decisional Officials’ Participation in Rulemaking Proceedings

Publications and Reports

Peter L. Strauss, Disqualifications of Decisional Officials in Rulemaking, 80 Colum. L. Rev. 990 (1980)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2017-3, Plain Language in Regulatory Drafting
Recommendation 2014-3, Guidance in the Rulemaking Process

Publications and Reports

Blake Emerson & Cheryl Blake, Plain Language in Regulatory Drafting (Dec. 8, 2017)
Kevin M. Stack, Guidance in the Rulemaking Process: Evaluating Preambles, Regulatory Text, and Freestanding Documents as Vehicles for Regulatory Guidance (May 16, 2014)

News Releases and Blog Posts

Blake Emerson, Using Plain Language to Draft Regulations (Mar. 6, 2018) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2018-6, Improving Access to Regulations.gov’s Rulemaking Dockets
Recommendation 2013-5, Social Media in Rulemaking
Recommendation 2011-8, Agency Innovations in E-Rulemaking
Recommendation 2011-1, Legal Considerations in E-Rulemaking

Publications and Reports

Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, E-Government Act of 2002
Todd Rubin, Regulations.gov and the Federal Docket Management System (Dec. 1, 2018)
Michael Herz, Using Social Media in Rulemaking: Possibilities and Barriers (Nov. 21, 2013)
Cary Coglianese, Federal Use of Electronic Media in the Rulemaking Process (Dec. 5, 2011)
Bridget C.E. Dooling, Legal Issues in e-Rulemaking: A Report to the Administrative Conference of the United States (Mar. 17, 2011)

News Releases and Blog Posts

Cary Coglianese & Todd Rubin, Improving Regulations.gov (May 29, 2019) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2019-1, Agency Guidance Through Interpretive Rules
Recommendation 2017-5, Agency Guidance Through Policy Statements
Recommendation 2014-3, Guidance in the Rulemaking Process
Recommendation 95-4, Procedures for Noncontroversial and Expedited Rulemaking
Recommendation 92-2, Agency Policy Statements
Recommendation 92-1, The Procedural and Practice Rule Exemption from the APA Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking Requirements
Recommendation 83-2, The “Good Cause” Exemption from APA Rulemaking Requirements
Recommendation 76-5, Interpretive Rules of General Applicability and Statements of General Policy
Requirements 73-5, Elimination of the “Military or Foreign Affairs Function” Exemption from APA Rulemaking Requirements
Statement #2: Statement of the Administrative Conference on the ABA Proposals to Amend the Administrative Procedure Act (1973)
Recommendation 71-3, Articulation of Agency Policies
Recommendation 69-8, Elimination of Certain Exemptions from the APA Rulemaking Requirements

Publications and Reports

Blake Emerson & Ronald M. Levin, Agency Guidance Through Interpretive Rules: Research and Analysis (May 28, 2019)
Nicholas R. Parrillo, Federal Agency Guidance: An Institutional Perspective (Oct. 12, 2017)
Kevin M. Stack, Guidance in the Rulemaking Process: Evaluating Preambles, Regulatory Text, and Freestanding Documents as Vehicles for Regulatory Guidance (May 16, 2014)
Michael Asimow, Interim-Final Rules: Making Haste Slowly, 51 Admin. L. Rev. 703 (1999)
Ronald M. Levin, Direct Final Rulemaking, 64 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 1 (1995)
Robert A. Anthony, Interpretive Rules, Policy Statements, Guidances, Manuals, and the Like—Should Federal Agencies Use Them to Bind the Public?, 41 Duke L.J. 1311 (1992)
Jeffrey S. Lubbers & Nancy G. Miller, The Procedural and Practice Rule Exemption from the APA Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking Requirements (Nov. 1991)
Ellen R. Jordan, The Administrative Procedure Act’s “Good Cause” Exemption, 36 Admin. L. Rev. 113 (1984)
Michael Asimow, Public Participation in the Adoption of Interpretive Rules and Policy Statements, 75 Mich. L. Rev. 520 (1977)
Arthur Earl Bonfield, Military and Foreign Affairs Function Rule-Making Under the APA, 71 Mich. L. Rev. 221 (1972)
Administrative Conference Report on ABA Proposals to Amend the Administrative Procedure Act (May 24, 1973)
Brice McAdoo Clagett, Informal Action—Adjudication—Rule Making: Some Recent Developments in Federal Administrative Law, 1971 Duke L.J. 51 (1971)
Arthur Earl Bonfield, Public Participation in Federal Rulemaking Relating to Public Property, Loans, Grants, Benefits, or Contracts, 118 U. Pa. L. Rev. 540 (1970)

News Releases and Blog Posts

Blake Emerson & Ronald M. Levin, Interpretive Rules in Practice (Nov. 1, 2019) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)
Nicholas Parrillo & Lee Lieberman Otis, Understanding and Addressing Controversies About Agency Guidance (Mar. 5, 2018) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2014-4, “Ex Parte” Communications in Informal Rulemaking
Recommendation 80-6, Intragovernmental Communications in Informal Rulemaking Proceedings
Recommendation 77-3, Ex Parte Communications in Informal Rulemaking Proceedings

Publications and Reports

Esa L. Sferra-Bonistalli, Ex Parte Communications in Informal Rulemaking (May 1, 2014)
Paul R. Verkuil, Jawboning Administrative Agencies: Ex Parte Contacts by the White House, 80 Colum. L. Rev. 943 (1980)
Nathaniel L. Nathanson, Ex Parte Communications in Informal Rulemaking Proceedings (1977)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 74-1, Subpena Power in Formal Rulemaking and Formal Adjudication
Recommendation 72-5, Procedures for the Adoption of Rules of General Applicability
Recommendation 71-7, Rulemaking on a Record by the Food and Drug Administration

Publications and Reports

Richard K. Berg, Subpena Powers in Formal Agency Proceedings (1974)
Robert W. Hamilton, Procedures for the Adoption of Rules of General Applicability: The Need for Procedural Innovation in Administrative Rulemaking, 60 Cal. L. Rev. 1276 (1972)
Robert W. Hamilton, Rulemaking on a Record by the Food and Drug Administration, 50 Tex. L. Rev. 1132 (1972)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 79-5, Hybrid Rulemaking Procedures of the Federal Trade Commission—Administration of the Program to Reimburse Participants’ Expenses
Recommendation 79-1, Hybrid Rulemaking Procedures of the Federal Trade Commission
Recommendation 76-3, Procedures in Addition to Notice and the Opportunity for Comment in Informal Rulemaking

Publications and Reports

Barry B. Boyer, Expense-Reimbursing Public Participants in Administrative Rulemaking: The Federal Trade Commission Experience (1979)
Barry B. Boyer, Trade Regulation Rulemaking Procedures of the Federal Trade Commission (1979)
Stephen F. Williams, “Hybrid Rulemaking” under the Administrative Procedure Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis, 42 U. Chi. L. Rev. 401 (1975)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2012-5, Improving Coordination of Related Agency Responsibilities

Publications and Reports

Jody Freeman & Jim Rossi, Improving Coordination of Related Agency Responsibilities (May 30, 2012)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2017-2, Negotiated Rulemaking and Other Options for Public Engagement
Recommendation 87-10, Regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration
Recommendation 87-8, National Coverage Determinations Under the Medicare Program
Recommendation 85-5, Procedures for Negotiating Proposed Regulations
Recommendation 82-4, Procedures for Negotiating Proposed Regulations

Publications and Reports

Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Negotiated Rulemaking Act
Cheryl Blake & Reeve T. Bull, Negotiated Rulemaking (June 5, 2017)
Negotiated Rulemaking Sourcebook (1995)
Sidney A. Shapiro & Thomas O. McGarity, Reorienting OSHA: Regulatory Alternatives and Legislative Reform, 6 Yale J. on Reg. 1 (1989)
Eleanor D. Kinney, National Coverage Policy Under the Medicare Program: Problems and Proposals for Change, 32 St. Louis U. L.J. 869 (1988)
Henry H. Perritt, Jr., Negotiated Rulemaking Before Federal Agencies: Evaluation of Recommendation by the Administrative Conference of the United States, 74 Geo. L.J. 1625 (1986)
Philip J. Harter, Negotiating Regulations: A Cure for Malaise (1982)

Assembly Recommendations

Statement #18: Improving the Timeliness of OIRA Regulatory Review (2013)
Recommendation 88-9, Presidential Review of Agency Rulemaking

Publications and Reports

Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, White House Orders, Bulletins, and Memoranda
Curtis W. Copeland, Length of Rule Reviews by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (Dec. 2, 2013)
Harold H. Bruff, Presidential Management of Agency Rulemaking, 57 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 533 (1989)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2014-6, Petitions for Rulemaking
Recommendation 86-6, Petitions for Rulemaking

Publications and Reports

Jason A. Schwartz & Richard L. Revesz, Petitions for Rulemaking (Nov. 5, 2014)
William V. Luneburg, Petitioning Federal Agencies for Rulemaking: An Overview of Administrative and Judicial Practice and Some Recommendations for Improvement, 1988 Wis. L. Rev. 1 (1988)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2021-1, Managing Mass, Computer-Generated, and Falsely Attributed Comments
Recommendation 2013-5, Social Media in Rulemaking
Recommendation 2011-2, Rulemaking Comments

Publications and Reports

Steve Balla, Reeve Bull, Bridget Dooling, Emily Hammond, Michael Herz, Michael Livermore & Beth Simone Noveck, Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments (June 1, 2021)
Michael Herz, Using Social Media in Rulemaking: Possibilities and Barriers (Nov. 21, 2013)
Steven J. Balla, Public Commenting on Federal Agency Regulations: Research on Current Practices and Recommendations to the Administrative Conference of the United States (Mar. 15, 2011)

Forums and Workshops

Forum on Enhancing Public Input in Agency Rulemaking (Dec. 1, 2021)
Forum on Underserved Communities and the Regulatory Process (November 2021)
Forum on Mass and Fake Comments in Agency Rulemaking (Oct. 5, 2018)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2023-2, Virtual Public Engagement in Agency Rulemaking
Recommendation 2021-3, Early Input on Regulatory Alternatives
Recommendation 2018-7, Public Engagement in Rulemaking
Recommendation 2013-5, Social Media in Rulemaking
Recommendation 76-3, Procedures in Addition to Notice and the Opportunity for Comment in Informal Rulemaking
Recommendation 72-1, Broadcast of Agency Proceedings
Recommendation 71-6, Public Participation in Administrative Hearings
Recommendation 68-5, Representation of the Poor in Agency Rulemaking of Direct Consequence to Them
Recommendation 68-4, Consumer Bulletin

Publications and Reports

Christopher Carrigan & Stuart Shapiro, Developing Regulatory Alternatives Through Early Input (June 4, 2021)
Michael Sant’Ambrogio & Glen Staszewski, Public Engagement with Agency Rulemaking (Nov. 19, 2018)
Michael Herz, Using Social Media in Rulemaking: Possibilities and Barriers (Nov. 21, 2013)
Stephen F. Williams, “Hybrid Rulemaking” under the Administrative Procedure Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis, 42 U. Chi. L. Rev. 401 (1975)
Robert W. Bennett, Broadcast Coverage of Administrative Proceedings, 67 Nw. U. L. Rev. 528 (1972)
Roger C. Cramton, The Why, Where, and How of Broadened Public Participation in the Administrative Process, 60 Geo. L.J. 525 (1972)
Arthur Earl Bonfield, Representation for the Poor in Federal Rulemaking, 67 Mich. L. Rev. 511 (1969)
Report of the Office of the Chairman in Support of Recommendation No. 4 (Consumer Bulletin) (1968)

News Releases and Blog Posts

Michael Sant’Ambrogio & Glen Staszewski, Public Engagement in Rulemaking (June 5, 2019) (originally published on The Regulatory Review)

Forums and Workshops

Forum on Enhancing Public Input in Agency Rulemaking (Dec. 1, 2021)
Forum on Underserved Communities and the Regulatory Process (November 2021)
Forum on Mass and Fake Comments in Agency Rulemaking (Oct. 5, 2018)

Assembly Recommendations

Recommendation 2021-1, Managing Mass, Computer-Generated, and Falsely Attributed Comments
Recommendation 2020-2, Protected Materials in Public Rulemaking Dockets
Recommendation 2018-6, Improving Access to Regulations.gov’s Rulemaking Dockets
Recommendation 2013-4, Administrative Record in Informal Rulemaking
Recommendation 2013-3, Science in the Administrative Process
Recommendation 2011-1, Legal Considerations in E-Rulemaking
Recommendation 79-4, Public Disclosure Concerning the Use of Cost-Benefit and Similar Analyses in Regulation

Publications and Reports

Steve Balla, Reeve Bull, Bridget Dooling, Emily Hammond, Michael Herz, Michael Livermore & Beth Simone Noveck, Mass, Computer-Generated, and Fraudulent Comments (June 1, 2021)
Christopher S. Yoo, Protected Materials in Public Rulemaking Dockets (draft Nov. 23, 2020)
Todd Rubin, Regulations.gov and the Federal Docket Management System (Dec. 1, 2018)
Leland E. Beck, Agency Practices and Judicial Review of Administrative Records in Informal Rulemaking (May 14, 2013)
Wendy Wagner, Science in Regulation: A Study of Agency Decisionmaking Approaches (Feb. 18, 2013)
Bridget C.E. Dooling, Legal Issues in e-Rulemaking: A Report to the Administrative Conference of the United States (Mar. 17, 2011)
Michael S. Baram, Cost-Benefit Analysis: An Inadequate Basis for Health, Safety, and Environmental Regulatory Decisionmaking, 8 Ecology L.Q. 473 (1980)

News Releases and Blog Posts

Christopher S. Yoo & Kellen McCoy, Transparency and Privacy in Public Rulemaking Dockets (May 25, 2021) (original published on The Regulatory Review)

Information Interchange Bulletins