On August 8, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), an independent federal agency charged with improving administrative procedures, published four recommendations in the Federal Register. Two of those recommendations involved agency guidance, which refers to documents created by government agencies to explain, interpret, or advise interested parties about rules, laws, and procedures.

 

The first recommendation encourages agencies to offer the public chances to propose alternatives to interpretive rules and to allow the public to participate in modifying those rules.

 

The next guidance recommendation instructs agencies to post their guidance documents online and to make sure the public knows where to find them.

 

The other two ACUS recommendations involved hiring procedures for Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and updating rules related to awarding attorney fees to those who successfully challenge government actions in court.