Administrative Conference of the United States
Seal of the Administrative Conference of the United States
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1964, revived 2009 |
| Headquarters | 1120 20th St NW, Suite 706 South Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 15 (2016) |
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| Website | Administrative Conference of the United States |
The Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) is an nonpartisan independent agency of the United States government established in 1964 by the Administrative Conference Act. The Conference's purpose is to "promote improvements in the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of the procedures by which federal agencies conduct regulatory programs, administer grants and benefits, and perform related governmental functions."
To this end, the Conference conducts research and issues reports concerning various aspects of the administrative process and, when warranted, makes recommendations to the President, Congress, particular departments and agencies, and the judiciary concerning the need for procedural reforms. Of these recommendations, 33% have focused on reducing government costs and increasing revenue, 26% on improving the use of science in the administrative process, and 20% on reducing litigation in the regulatory process. Implementation of Conference recommendations may be accomplished by direct action on the part of the affected agencies or through legislative changes.
The Chairman is appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for a 5-year term. The other ten members of the Council, which acts as an executive board, are appointed by the President for 3-year terms. Federal officials may comprise no more than one-half of the full membership of the Council. The Chairman is the only full-time compensated member.
In order to draw on a wide array of expertise and ensure diversity of views that contribute to the formulation of ACUS recommendations, the Conference's membership consists of no fewer than 75 and no more than 101 members who are chosen from government agencies, the practicing bar, academia, corporations, and non-profit entities. Each member serves on one of ACUS's committees, which are devoted to one of five administrative procedure subjects: adjudication, administration and management, judicial review, regulation, and rulemaking. ACUS estimates that its volunteer experts bring an added $1.1 million of value to the agency's work.
ACUS was formed as a permanent agency to continue the bipartisan efforts of the two temporary Administrative Conferences that operated during the Eisenhower and Kennedy Administrations. Each of the temporary Conferences had recommended the establishment of a permanent body to continually study, and recommend improvements to, administrative procedures.
ACUS began operations with the appointment and confirmation of its first Chairman in 1968. In just under three decades, the Conference undertook over 200 recommendation projects examining various areas of administrative law and practice. In 1995, the Conference ceased operations due to loss of funding, but the statutory provisions establishing ACUS were not repealed. Indeed, the Conference’s work received continued recognition over the years. In 2007, the Congressional Research Service remarked that ACUS offered “nonpartisan, nonbiased, comprehensive, and practical assessments and guidance with respect to a wide range of agency processes, procedures, and practices.”
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