History
Two temporary Administrative Conferences during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations recommended the establishment of a permanent agency to study Federal administrative procedures and develop recommendations for improvement.
These recommendations were consistent with those set forth in a report to President-elect Kennedy by James M. Landis, former Dean of the Harvard Law School and former Chairman of both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Civil Aeronautics Board. The ACUS was created by the Administrative Conference Act of 1964, Pub.L. 88–499, 5 U.S.C. §§ 591–596. ACUS began operations with the appointment and confirmation of its first Chairman in 1968.
Over the course of the next 27 years, through October 1995, the Conference brought together experts from both public and private sectors to commission and review basic research leading to specific and practical ways to improve regulatory and administrative processes. ACUS adopted approximately 200 such recommendations, based on careful study and the informed deliberations of ACUS members in an open process that encouraged public input.
The Conference ceased operations on October 31, 1995, due to termination of funding by Congress, but the statutory provisions establishing ACUS were not repealed. Subsequently, Congress reauthorized the Conference in 2004 and again in 2008. The 2004 legislation expanded the responsibilities of ACUS to include specific attention to achieving more effective public participation and efficiency, reducing unnecessary litigation, and improving the use of science in the rulemaking process.
Funding was approved in 2009, and the Conference was officially re-established in March 2010, when the United States Senate confirmed President Barack Obama's nominee as Chairman, Paul R. Verkuil. Mr. Verkuil is a widely published scholar of law and regulation. He has served as president of the College of William and Mary and as dean of Cardozo School of Law and Tulane University Law School. He also served as Special Master in the case of New Jersey v. New York, involving the sovereignty of Ellis Island.
Obama appointed Preeta Bansal, General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser for the Office of Management and Budget, as Vice Chair of the Conference.
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