Administrative Conference of The United States - Recommendations of The Administrative Conference

Recommendations of The Administrative Conference

Among its most influential government-wide recommendations were the Conference's proposals facilitating judicial review of agency decisions and eliminating various technical impediments to such review. ACUS recommended a model administrative civil penalty statute that has served as the basis for numerous pieces of legislation.

The Conference also adopted a series of recommendations that set forth procedures and criteria for utilizing a variety of alternative dispute resolution techniques and approaches for eliminating excessive litigation costs and long delays in federal agency programs. These activities led to enactment of the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act in 1990, which established a framework for agencies to resolve administrative litigation through alternative dispute resolution. ACUS applied a similar approach for consensual resolution of disputes in rulemaking, and its recommendation on negotiating regulations in appropriate situations led to enactment of the Negotiated Rulemaking Act. To help implement these statutes, the Conference provided extensive assistance to agencies throughout the federal government. These activities included training programs, interagency working groups to enable agencies to address specific issues through study and sharing of information about best practices, and the publication of two voluminous Sourcebooks for agency reference.