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Why are there so many people here surprised that executive departments participate in proposing legislation? It seems like completely normal activity to me.
by gwright 6y ago
Why are there so many people here surprised that executive departments participate in proposing legislation?
It seems like completely normal activity to me.
- mmazing 6y agoI guess that depends - is it a frequent occurrence, historically?
- gwright 6y agoIt happens all the time. It is a completely mundane part of the daily functioning of government.
- velosol 6y agoFurther there are often laws that basically state "here's some general guide, executive agency X will figure out the specifics and publish that in the Fed Register as regulations."
- sailfast 6y agoThe law instructs them to write the rules / guidance.It’s their responsibility to then do that and we fund them to do that. Agencies don’t get funded to write the law that gives them the mandate to write the regulation. That’s a classic bureaucratic self-licking ice cream cone.
- sailfast 6y agoIn my experience this is not at all normal. Any more examples off-hand if agencies writing draft legislation? Not talking rulemaking, talking actual law. Would happily be proven wrong here but it’s something I have actively seen agencies avoid in the past, so I’m curious where you’ve seen this kind of overt draft legislation written.
- gwright 6y agoSee my response to your other comment above.
- sailfast 6y agoThanks. Seems like I’m mistaken about this or my experience is not as common. Appreciate the links. I’d be interested if they always came with a press release and public quotes / pressure - but maybe that’s in the ACU report. Haven’t gotten all the way through it yet.
- gwright 6y agoThat does seem a bit unusual but then again the amount of attention that social media (and media in general) is getting lately is basically off the charts.
- sailfast 6y agoIt’s not normal to write draft legislation. It is normal to have a legislative affairs office that works with Congress on all sorts of things but to propose draft legislation is weird. Agencies typically try to avoid doing this as it could adversely impact their funding moving forward. Why fund an agency that already has enough money to fund a lobbying arm? It’s a norm more than a rule but it’s a thing in my experience.
- gwright 6y agoThis report suggests that this sort of thing is not uncommon but that it rarely takes the form of a complete bill, which is closer to your term "draft legislation". Redlining an existing statute with changes is what the DOJ published and is closer to what I was getting at when I said "participate in proposing legislation". https://www.acus.gov/sites/default/files/documents/technical-assistance-draft-report.pdf https://www.acus.gov/sites/default/files/documents/technical...
- sailfast 6y agoThanks that’s a great paper. Much obliged.