Notice-and-Comment Rulemaking

This page provides access to many of the recommendations, publications, and other materials related to the rulemaking process that have been prepared by ACUS or for its consideration.

Please contact Jeremy Graboyes (jgraboyes@acus.gov) for more information or to provide additions, updates, or corrections.

• Congressional Review

• Disqualification

• Drafting Rulemaking Materials

• E-Rulemaking

• Exemptions from APA Rulemaking Requirements

• Ex Parte Communications

• Formal Rulemaking

• Guidance (see Exemptions from APA Rulemaking Requirements)

• Hybrid Rulemaking

• Interpretive Rules (see Exemptions from APA Rulemaking Requirements)

• Joint Rulemaking

• Negotiated Rulemaking

• Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

• Petitions for Rulemaking

• Policy Statements (see Exemptions from APA Rulemaking Requirements)

• Public Comments

• Public Engagement in Rulemaking

• Public Rulemaking Dockets

• Recusal (see Disqualification)

• Regulations.gov (see E-Rulemaking)

• Retrospective Review

• Rulemaking, Generally

• Timing of Rulemaking Proceedings

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CONGRESSIONAL REVIEW

Publications and Reports

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking

• Morton Rosenberg, The Critical Need for Effective Congressional Review of Agency Rules: Background and Considerations for Incremental Reform (July 18, 2012)

 

DISQUALIFICATION

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)

 

DRAFTING RULEMAKING MATERIALS

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)

 

E-RULEMAKING

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)

 

EXEMPTIONS FROM APA RULEMAKING REQUIREMENTS

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)

 

EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS

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)

 

FORMAL RULEMAKING

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)

 

HYBRID RULEMAKING

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)

 

JOINT RULEMAKING

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)

 

NEGOTIATED RULEMAKING

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)

• 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)

 

OFFICE OF INFORMATION AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS (OIRA)

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)

 

PETITIONS FOR RULEMAKING

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)

 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

Assembly Recommendations

• Recommendation 2013-5, Social Media in Rulemaking

• Recommendation 2011-2, Rulemaking Comments

Publications and Reports

• 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 Mass and Fake Comments in Agency Rulemaking (Oct. 5, 2018)

• Transcript of Forum on Mass and Fake Comments in Agency Rulemaking (Oct. 5, 2018)

 

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN RULEMAKING

Assembly Recommendations

• 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

• 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)

 

PUBLIC RULEMAKING DOCKETS

Assembly Recommendations

• 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

• Christopher S. Yoo, Protected Materials in Public Rulemaking Dockets (draft Mar. 10, 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)

Information Interchange Bulletins

• IIB-005, Disclosure of Critical Factual Material Supporting Proposed Rules (D.C. Circuit) (April 2020)

Current Projects

• Protected Materials in Public Rulemaking Dockets

 

RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW

Assembly Recommendations

• Recommendation 2017-6, Learning from Regulatory Experience

• Recommendation 2014-5, Retrospective Review of Agency Rules

• Recommendation 95-3, Review of Existing Agency Regulations

Publications and Reports

• Zachary J. Gubler, Regulatory Experimentation (Nov. 17, 2017)

• Joseph E. Aldy, Learning from Experience: An Assessment of the Retrospective Review of Agency Rules and the Evidence for Improving the Design and Implementation of Regulatory Policy (Nov. 17, 2014)

• Sidney A. Shapiro, Agency Review of Existing Regulations (1995)

News Releases and Blog Posts

• Regulatory Review Features Essays Based on ACUS Co-Sponsored Workshop (Dec. 2, 2019)

 

RULEMAKING, GENERALLY

Assembly Recommendations

• Recommendation 93-4, Improving the Environment for Agency Rulemaking

• Statement #9: Guidelines for Choosing the Appropriate Level of Agency Policy Articulation (1983)

• Statement #7: Views of the Administrative Conference on Proposals Pending in Congress to Amend the Informal Rulemaking Provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (1982)

• Recommendation 76-3, Procedures in Addition to Notice and the Opportunity for Comment in Informal Rulemaking

• Statement #3: Statement of the Administrative Conference on ABA Resolution No. 1 Proposing to Amend the Definition of “Rule” in the Administrative Procedure Act (1973)

• Recommendation 72-5, Procedures for the Adoption of Rules of General Applicability

• Recommendation 71-3, Articulation of Agency Policies

Publications and Reports

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Administrative Procedure Act

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Negotiated Rulemaking Act

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, Congressional Review of Agency Rulemaking

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, White House Orders, Bulletins, and Memoranda

• Federal Administrative Procedure Sourcebook, E-Government Act of 2002

• Jerry L. Mashaw, Improving the Environment of Agency Rulemaking: An Essay on Management, Games, and Accountability, 57 Law & Contemp. Probs. 185 (1994)

• Colin S. Diver, Agency Articulation of Policy (1983)

• Michael W. Bowers, A Review of the Development of Law on Informal Rulemaking Procedure: Report to the Committee on Rulemaking of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1982)

• Stephen F. Williams, “Hybrid Rulemaking” under the Administrative Procedure Act: A Legal and Empirical Analysis, 42 U. Chi. L. Rev. 401 (1975)

• Memorandum in Support of Statement of the Administrative Conference on ABA Resolution No. 1 Proposing to Amend the Definition of “Rule” in the Administrative Procedure Act (Nov. 23, 1973)

• 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)

• Brice McAdoo Clagett, Informal Action—Adjudication—Rule Making: Some Recent Developments in Federal Administrative Law, 1971 Duke L.J. 51 (1971)

Current Projects

• Rules on Rulemakings

 

TIMING OF RULEMAKING PROCEEDINGS

Assembly Recommendations

• Statement #18: Improving the Timeliness of OIRA Regulatory Review (2013)

• Recommendation 2012-2, Midnight Rules

• Recommendation 87-10, Regulation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration

• Recommendation 87-1, Priority Setting and Management of Rulemaking by the Occupational Safety and Health Administrating

• Recommendation 78-3, Time Limits on Agency Actions

• Recommendation 78-1, Reduction of Delay in Ratemaking Cases

Publications and Reports

• Curtis W. Copeland, Length of Rule Reviews by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (Dec. 2, 2013)

• Jack M. Beermann, Midnight Rules: A Reform Agenda (May 14, 2012)

• Sidney A. Shapiro & Thomas O. McGarity, Reorienting OSHA: Regulatory Alternatives and Legislative Reform, 6 Yale J. on Reg. 1 (1989)

• Thomas O. McGarity & Sidney A. Shapiro, OSHA Rulemaking Procedures (Jan. 12, 1987)

• Edward A. Tomlinson, Report on the Experience of Various Agencies with Statutory Time Limits Applicable to Licensing or Clearance Functions and to Rulemaking (1978)

• Thomas D. Morgan, Toward a Revised Strategy for Ratemaking, 1978 U. Ill. L.F. 21 (1978)