Many Federal Agency Rules and Guidance Documents are Still Not Properly Reported to Congress and the GAO as Required by the Congressional Review Act

Abstract

The bipartisan 1996 Congressional Review Act requires agencies to submit rules and guidance documents to both houses of Congress and to the Government Accountability Office, to provide Congress opportunity to disapprove them before they become effective. Addional provisions apply to major rules.. A 2014 white paper from the Administrative Conference of the United States found the agencies' required reporting to often not be takiing place and offered recommendations to remedy the situtaion. This brief update using gross rule tallies finds the concern to have worsened, particularly as major legislative vehicles enacted over the past three years will elevate agency regulatory activity, rasing questions about the workability of the Congressional Review Act specifically and over Article I decay generally.

Keywords: Administrative law, regulation, agency, public administration, transparency, disclosure, guidance documents,

JEL Classification: A1, K2, K21, K23, K32, H10, H12, H13, H4, H50, H60, L1, L12, L4, L5, L50, L51, L52, O3, O4, O43