Making formal recommendations is one of the primary activities of the Administrative Conference. The Conference’s research and the resulting recommendations are conducted through the Administrative Conference Project Process. The process includes: gathering and selecting ideas for a project, getting Council approval, selecting the researcher, having the researcher’s report considered by a committee, having the selected committee formulate a recommendation, having a committee’s recommendation considered by the Council and then the full Conference membership, and then implementation activities. Recommendations are adopted by the voting members of the Conference at semi-annual plenary sessions.
Recommendations
Improving Consistency in Social Security Disability Adjudications
Download- Recommendation number: 2013-1
- Adopted on: June 13, 2013
- Committees: Adjudication
- Tags: Adjudication, Benefits, Disability, Social Security
This recommendation identifies ways to improve the adjudication of Social Security disability claims before administrative law judges and the Appeals Council, suggests changes to the evaluation of opinion evidence from medical professionals, and encourages the agency to enhance data capture and reporting.
Benefit-Cost Analysis
Download- Recommendation number: 2013-2
- Adopted on: June 13, 2013
- Committees: Regulation
- Tags: Cost Benefit Analysis
Recommendation 2013-2: Benefit-Cost Analysis at Independent Regulatory Agencies
Science in the Administrative Process
Download- Recommendation number: 2013-3
- Adopted on: June 14, 2013
- Committees: Regulation
- Tags: Science
Recommendation 2013-3: Science in the Administrative Process
Administrative Record in Informal Rulemaking
Download- Recommendation number: 2013-4
- Adopted on: June 14, 2013
- Committees: Judicial Review
Adopted at the June 14, 2013 Plenary Session.
Regulatory Analysis Requirements
Download- Recommendation number: 2012-1
- Adopted on: June 14, 2012
Over the past several decades, the United States Congress and various Presidents have imposed numerous regulatory analysis requirements on administrative agencies in connection with their rulemaking activities. Some of these requirements are relatively sweeping measures designed to ensure that agencies’ regulations advance legitimate goals, such as Executive Order (EO) 12,866’s requirement that executive agencies...
Midnight Rules
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Midnight Rules
- Recommendation number: 2012-2
- Adopted on: June 14, 2012
- Tags: Congress, Rulemaking
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)[2] and non-legislative rules (such as interpretive rules, policy statements, and guidance documents) as compared to other periods. This...
Immigration Removal Adjudication
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Immigration Removal Adjudication
- Recommendation number: 2012-3
- Adopted on: August 27, 2012
- Committees: Adjudication
- Tags: Adjudication, Immigration
The U.S. immigration removal adjudication agencies and processes have been the objects of critiques by the popular press, organizations of various types, legal scholars, advocates, U.S. courts of appeals judges, immigration judges, Board of Immigration Appeals members and the Government Accountability Office. Critics have noted how the current immigration adjudication system fails to meet national expectations of...
Paperwork Reduction Act
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Paperwork Reduction Act
- Recommendation number: 2012-4
- Adopted on: June 15, 2012
The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA), enacted in 1980 and revised upon its reauthorization in 1986 and 1995, created the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to oversee information policy within the executive branch. The Act requires, among other things, that agencies secure OMB approval before collecting information from the public. Since 1995, this has...
Improving Coordination of Related Agency Responsibilities
Download- Recommendation number: 2012-5
- Adopted on: June 15, 2012
- Tags: Congress
Many areas of government agency activities are characterized by fragmented and overlapping delegations of power to administrative agencies. Congress often assigns more than one agency the same or similar functions or divides responsibilities among multiple agencies, giving each responsibility for part of a larger whole. Instances of overlap and fragmentation are common. They can be found throughout the...
Reform of 28 U.S.C. Section 1500
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Reform of 28 U.S.C. § 1500
- Recommendation number: 2012-6
- Adopted on: December 6, 2012
- Committees: Judicial Review
The Administrative Conference of the United States has long had an interest in ensuring appropriate judicial review of Government actions and in considering related questions regarding jurisdiction and forum. For example, the Conference’s seminal Recommendation 69-1 recommended amendment of the Administrative Procedure Act—subsequently enacted by Congress—to waive sovereign immunity and thereby permit citizens “...