Ch. 5 Administrative Law Flashcards
What are the 3 basic Functions of Administrative Agencies?
- ) Rulemaking
- ) Enforcement
- ) Adjudication of controversies
Administrative Agencies
Government entities– other than courts and legislatures– that have the authority to affect the rights of private parties through their operations
• Regulate important matters involving national, safety, welfare, & convenience
Administrative Process
The set of activities in which administrative agencies engage while carrying out their 3 basic functions
Rulemaking
The process by which an administrative agency enacts or promulgates rules of law
What are the 3 Types of Rulemaking?
- ) Informal
- ) Formal
- ) Hybrid
Rule
The whole or part of an agency statement of general or particular applicability and future effect designed to implement, interpret, or process law or policy
Legislative Rules
Agency-issued rules having the ability, under a legislative delegation of power, to make rules having the force and effect of law
Formal Rulemaking
Rules issued by an agency having the ability, under a legislative delegation of power, to make rules having the force & effect of law
• Subject to APA
Before you can go to court…
You have to go through every step of the administrative agencies.
Informal Rulemaking
Procedures of the APA which require the agency to provide.
- ) Prior notice of a proposed rule, usually by publication in the Federal Register
- ) An opportunity for interested parties to participate in the rulemaking
- ) Publication of a final draft containing a concise general statement of the rule’s basis & purpose at least 30 days before its effective date
What are the 3 Types of Rules?
- ) Legislative
- ) Interpretative
- ) Procedural
Hybrid Rulemaking
An intermediate procedure that is more formal than informal rulemaking, but don’t require the full hearing that formal rulemaking requires
What 3 things do the APA require that the Informal Rulemaking procedures provide?
- ) Prior notice of a proposed rule, usually by publication in the Federal Register
- ) An opportunity for interested parties to participate in the rulemaking
- ) Publication of a final draft containing a concise general statement of the rule’s basis & purpose at least 30 days before its effective date
Interpretative Rules
Agency-issued statements that explain how the agency construes its governing statute
• Exempt from APA
Procedural Rules
Establish rules of conduct for practice before an agency, identify an agency’s organization, and describe its method of operation
• Exempt from APA
Agencies are subject to what 4 limitations?
- ) The investigation is authorized by law and undertaken for a legitimate purpose.
- ) The information sought is relevant.
- ) The demand for information is sufficiently specific and not unreasonably burdensome.
- ) The information sought is not privileged.
Adjudication
The formal procedure by which an agency resolves a matter; involves finding facts, applying legal rules to the facts, & formulating Orders
Order
The whole or part of a final disposition, whether affirmative, negative, injunctive, or declaratory, of an agency
Standing
Requires that the agency action injure the party in fact and that the party assert an interest that is in the “zone of interests”
What 2 things do parties seeking to challenge agency action need to have?
- ) Must have Standing
2. ) Must have exhausted their administrative remedies
When conducting a review of questions of law, what 4 things does the court need to determine the agency has done?
- ) Exceeded its authority
- ) Properly interpreted the applicable law
- ) Violated any constitutional provision
- ) Acted contrary to the procedural requirements of the law
Arbitrary & Capricious Test
Requires only that the agency has a rational basis for reaching its decision
• Applies to informal rulemaking or informal adjudication
Substantial Evidence Test
Requires the conclusions reached to be supported by “such relevant evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion”
- Applies to formal hearings
- Applies to informal or hybrid rulemaking if the enabling statute so requires
Unwarranted by the Facts standard
Permits the court to try the facts de novo
- Rarely applies
- Only available when the enabling statute so provides, when the agency used inadequate fact-finding procedures, or when irrelevant issues are raised in a proceeding to enforce nonadjudicative agency action
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Enacted in 1966; gives the public access to most records in the files of federal administrative agencies
Privacy Act
Protects certain government records pertaining to individuals that a federal agency maintains & retrieves by an individual’s name or other personal identifier
Government in the Sunshine Act
Requires meetings of many federal agencies to be open to the public
