Recommendations

Agencies produce many kinds of legal materials, including documents that establish, interpret, apply, explain, or address the enforcement of legal rights and obligations, along with constraints imposed, implemented, or enforced by or upon an agency.  Many principal statutes govern the public disclosure of these materials. However, there are inconsistencies and uncertainties…

In recent years, and especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, agencies increasingly have used widely available, internet-based videoconferencing software to engage with the public during rulemakings. Virtual public engagement can help broaden participation in agency rulemakings by reducing barriers that people—especially members of historically underserved communities—…

Retrospective review is the process by which agencies assess existing rules and decide whether they need to be revisited. Agencies may be able to leverage algorithmic tools, including artificial intelligence, to more efficiently, cost-effectively, and accurately identify rules that are outmoded or redundant, contain typographic errors or inaccurate cross-references, or might…

To improve the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of their adjudications, agencies have deployed online processes by which parties, representatives, and others can perform common tasks such as filing, serving, and viewing forms, briefs, evidence, and other case records or materials. These processes range from simple email-based systems to robust online self-help portals…

Agencies rely on private contractors to perform many kinds of services in support of their rulemaking activities. These services can occur at any stage of the rulemaking process. They also vary in levels of complexity, ranging from relatively simple tasks such as sorting public comments to more complex matters such as preparing regulatory impact…

Each year federal agencies issue hundreds of thousands of pages of legislative rules, guidance documents, adjudicative orders, notices, and other materials that affect administrative programs. Although the law generally requires these materials be made public, individuals and organizations may lack the resources or expertise to track and understand regulatory changes that…

Federal agencies increasingly automate the provision of legal guidance to the public through technologies such as chatbots and virtual assistants. There may be benefits associated with the use of these technologies, including efficient allocation of limited staff resources; improved user experience and service delivery; and enhanced consistency. At the same time, the…

Agencies use many different mechanisms to ensure consistency, predictability, and uniformity when adjudicating cases, including designating some or all of their appellate decisions as precedential. Agencies can also use precedential decision making to communicate how they interpret legal requirements or intend to exercise discretionary authority. Many agencies use some…

Many agencies have developed documents, often called “enforcement manuals,” that provide their personnel with a single, comprehensive resource regarding enforcement-related laws and policies. Enforcement manuals provide a way for agencies to effectively communicate laws and policies that would otherwise be dispersed within a voluminous body of separate documents, and to…

Many agencies have authority to adjudicate whether persons have violated the law and, for those found to have done so, order them to pay a civil penalty, provide specific relief, or take some other remedial action. While some administrative enforcement proceedings result in a final agency adjudicative decision, in many cases, the parties reach a settlement agreement.…