In November 2015, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) released the full textof the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), a free trade agreement that was negotiated by the United States with eleven countries from Asia and the Americas: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. The Agreement […]

MEDIA CONTACT: Angela Petro: Angela.Petro@americanbar.orgor 202-662-1582 WASHINGTON (February 8, 2016) – On February 9, 2016, the Energy Committee of the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice will hold a teleconference on the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent FERC v. Electric Power Supply Association(EPSA) decision. Panelists Joel Eisen, Professor of […]

In a previous post, I described some recent research on the geographic decentralization of staff and authority within federal government agencies. A key conclusion of that research, and of yesterday’s post, is that the realities of federal governance call into question some key pillars of the conventional wisdom about American federalism. This post addresses a […]

In his influential dissent in Garcia v. San Antonio Metropolitan Transit Authority , 469 U.S. 528 (1985). Justice Lewis Powell offered up a harsh take on federal administrative governance. “The administration and enforcement of federal laws and regulations,” he wrote, “necessarily are largely in the hands of staff and civil service employees. These employees may […]

On the seventh anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, President Obama and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced new actions to advance equal pay for equal work. President Obama, EEOC Chair Jenny Yang, and EEOC Commissioner Charlotte Burrows announced on Friday, January 29 that the EEOC, White House, and U.S. Department […]

Both the NYT and Connor Raso’s post below warn darkly of rumored new regulatory reform legislation. But any new bill will be a breath of fresh air, compared to its archly-partisan predecessor, the Financial Regulatory Responsibility Act of 2011. Connor and I roundly denounced the FFRA in the SSRN draft of our Rational Boundaries article. […]

OIRA, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, located in the White House Office of Management and Budget, is the nation’s gatekeeper over federal regulatory activity. All executive branch agencies are prohibited from releasing economically significant regulations without first submitting their regulations to OIRA for review. In the performance of this duty OIRA is often […]

Every year the federal government decides three major economic matters 1) the amount of money that the government will spend 2) the amount of money it will raise in taxes and 3) the amount of money that it will require the private sector and states, municipalities and tribes to spend on regulatory compliance costs. The […]

It is bedrock in a democracy, of course, that the public must be able to see the text of binding law. We take for granted that we can readily view federal statutes and regulations in government publications that are freely available online and in the Federal Depository Library System. It might surprise some to learn, […]

There was an interesting development yesterday in the controversy over EPA’s aggressive social media campaign in support of its “Waters of the United States” rule. This rulemaking, conducted in conjunction with the Army Corps of Engineers, on was the subject of a panel at the recent ABA Adlaw Section Fall meeting. The Final Rule was […]

As the Obama Administration moves into the final stretch of establishing a “Single Window” – an electronic portal through which traders can transmit data required by U.S. agencies for importing and exporting goods — it is worth discussing the pivotal role being played in the Single Window roll-out by retrospective review. The Administration’s retrospective review […]

I previously explained how U.S. Government funding will likely expire at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, December 10, and not 11:59 p.m. on Friday, December 11, as Congress, the White House, and most commentators believe. With Congress and the President disagreeing on spending provisions such as defunding Planned Parenthood, the Affordable Care Act, and allowing Syrian refugees, […]

At the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Law Schools, the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice of the American Bar Association will be sponsoring a terrific program on regulation of the sharing economy. The program will take place from 6:30 – 9:30 pm on Friday, January 8, including the Reception, in the […]