Cherry blossoms are starting to bloom here in Washington, D.C., which can mean only one thing in the ACUS-sphere: Spring Committee season has begun! Read on to learn more about the projects that will be coming before ACUS committees this spring, when committees will convene to consider them, and how our recent website redesign has made it easier than ever to access, track, and engage with ACUS recommendations, projects, events, and resources.

Spring 2024 Committee Schedule and Projects

Four ACUS standing committees will convene this spring to consider new projects directed towards the development of draft recommendations that will be considered by the ACUS Assembly at our June 2024 Plenary Session. Draft reports and draft recommendations for each project, which are forthcoming, will soon be posted to the project-specific webpages linked below—which now allow you to sign up for email alerts that will keep you in the loop on project-related developments as they occur (more on that later…).

Committee on Adjudication

The Committee on Adjudication, chaired by ACUS Government Member Nadine Mancini, will convene for its first meeting of the spring at 2:30 p.m. ET on April 17, 2024, to consider Participation of Senate-Confirmed Officials in Administrative Adjudication.

Through this project, ACUS will examine, as a legal and practical matter, whether, when, how, and how often agency heads and other Senate-confirmed officials participate in the adjudication of cases across a range of federal administrative programs. For agencies that have decided to provide—or are considering providing for—participation by Senate-confirmed officials in the adjudication of individual cases, it will identify principles and practicalities that agencies should consider in structuring such participation and recommend best practices for developing and communicating relevant policies.

The Committee will reconvene for its second meeting on May 1, 2024, at 2:30 p.m. ET.

Please contact Matthew Gluth, ACUS Deputy Research Director and project Staff Counsel, at mgluth@acus.gov with any questions.

Committee on Administration & Management

The Committee on Administration & Management, chaired by ACUS Public Member Eloise Pasachoff, will convene at 1 p.m. ET on March 28, 2024, to begin consideration of Congressional Constituent Service Inquiries.

In this project, ACUS will examine how federal agencies receive, process, and respond to congressional inquiries made on behalf of constituents who need assistance accessing federal programs or navigating adjudicative and other similar administrative processes. Based on that study, it will identify best practices for agencies to promote quality, efficiency, and timeliness in their procedures for responding to such inquiries.

The Committee will resume its consideration of the project at a second meeting, scheduled for April 26, 2024, at 1 p.m. ET.

I have the privilege of serving as Staff Counsel for this project, so I encourage readers to send me any questions they have at cdryland@acus.gov.

Committee on Judicial Review

This spring, the Committee on Judicial Review, chaired by ACUS Public Member Kirti Datla, is considering Choice of Forum for Judicial Review of Agency Rules.

This project will study and, as appropriate, make recommendations to guide Congress in determining the appropriate forum and venue for judicial review of agency rules—with respect to both existing programs and programs established in the future. It will consider, among other things, when agency rules should be subject to direct review by the courts of appeals, when Congress should consider limiting the venue for judicial review of rules (beyond what the ordinary rules of venue would permit), whether courts should consolidate multiple challenges to a rule (including how such consolidation should occur), and any common ambiguities or drafting problems in the statutes governing choice of forum for judicial review of agency rules.

The Committee convened for its first meeting on March 20 and will resume consideration of the project at a second meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on April 25, 2024.

Please contact project Staff Counsel Kazia Nowacki at knowacki@acus.gov with any questions.

Committee on Rulemaking

The Committee on Rulemaking, chaired by ACUS Public Member Bertrall Ross, will convene at 10 a.m. ET on April 10, 2024, to consider Individualized Guidance.

Through this project, ACUS will examine and offer best practices to promote fairness, accuracy, and efficiency in agency processes for providing written guidance in response to requests for advice from members of the public. Among other topics, it will address processes for members of the public to request guidance from agencies; agency practices for drafting responses to guidance requests, including the personnel involved and mechanisms to ensure accuracy and consistency; the public availability of individualized guidance documents once issued; and the extent to which members of the public can rely on legal interpretations and policy statements made in such documents.

The Committee will reconvene for its second meeting on April 24, 2024, at 10 a.m. ET.

Please contact project Staff Counsel Benjamin Birkhill (bbirkhill@acus.gov) with any questions.

ACUS Completes Website Redesign

It’s my pleasure to share that ACUS has completed a top-to-bottom redesign of our website, ACUS.gov. The new website implements a wide range of user-focused improvements to make it easier than ever to access, engage with, and track ACUS resources, projects, and recommendations.

In response to valuable input from ACUS members and other regular users, the redesigned ACUS.gov now allows visitors to:

• Sign up for email alerts to receive a monthly newsletter with updates on ACUS projects and other agency initiatives;
• Search project reports by title, committee, and year of adoption;
• Search ongoing and completed ACUS projects (including recommendation projects, roundtables, and working groups) by project title and project content; and
• Browse ACUS recommendations more efficiently by topic and subtopic.

We encourage you to visit the redesigned website, explore its new functionalities, and send any feedback to Nathan Tomasso, ACUS Budget Analyst, at ntomasso@acus.gov.

FNN Airs Episode 7 of Between the Lines with ACUS

On the latest episode of ACUS’s podcast series, Between the Lines, Chair Andrew Fois, ACUS Public Member Kate Shaw, and ACUS Senior Fellow Christopher Walker explore how two important administrative law cases pending before the Supreme Court, SEC v. Jarkesy and Corner Post v. Board of Governors, might affect agency enforcement of administrative adjudication decisions.

New episodes of Between the Lines air on the first Tuesday of each Month from 1-2 p.m. ET on Federal News Network (AM 1500) and are available to stream on-demand shortly thereafter.

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This post is part of the Administrative Conference Update series, which highlights new and continuing projects, upcoming committee meetings, proposed and recently adopted recommendations, and other news about the Administrative Conference of the United States. The series is further explained here, and all prior posts in the series can be found here.

Conrad Dryland is an Attorney Advisor & Special Counsel to the Chair at the Administrative Conference of the United States. Any views expressed belong to the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Administrative Conference or the federal government.