Tag: administrative state
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Ballotpedia survey shows no state constitution or administrative procedure act requires agencies to prove rule violators acted knowingly before imposing penalties
A Ballotpedia survey of all 50 state constitutions and administrative procedure acts (APAs) revealed that no state constitutions or APAs require agencies to prove rule violators acted knowingly before imposing penalties after adjudication. Without those requirements, state agencies may be able to order people and businesses to pay fines for breaking rules without proving whether…
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Federal Register weekly update: 2020 total tops 45,000 pages
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. From July 20 to July 24, the Federal Register grew by 1,376 pages for a year-to-date total of 45,056 pages. Over the same…
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Montana governor lawsuit challenges U.S. Bureau of Land Management director nomination
On July 20, Montana Governor Steve Bullock (D) filed a lawsuit aimed at prohibiting acting director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) William Perry Pendley from exercising the director powers of the agency. The lawsuit argues that Pendley, who President Trump officially nominated to become director of BLM on June 30, 2020, serves…
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Federal Register weekly update; Trump administration has issued 35 significant final rules so far in 2020
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. From July 13 to July 17, the Federal Register grew by 1,776 pages for a year-to-date total of 43,680 pages. Over the same…
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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ratifies previous actions after U.S. Supreme Court ruled agency structure unconstitutional
On July 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) published a rule in the Federal Register ratifying several prior actions taken between 2012 and 2020. The rule came in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Seila Law that the agency’s structure was unconstitutional. The new CFPB rule states that court precedent allows…
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Checks and Balances: July 2020
The Checks and Balances Letter delivers news and information from Ballotpedia’s Administrative State Project, including pivotal actions at the federal and state levels related to the separation of powers, due process and the rule of law. This edition: In this month’s edition of Checks and Balances, we review the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision not to…
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Federal Register weekly update; highest weekly final rule total of 2020 to date
The Federal Register is a daily journal of federal government activity that includes presidential documents, proposed and final rules, and public notices. It is a common measure of an administration’s regulatory activity. From July 6 to July 10, the Federal Register grew by 1,818 pages for a year-to-date total of 41,904 pages. Over the same…
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Mississippi Supreme Court reaffirms end of state-level Chevron deference; Georgia legislation to end deference to state tax agency fails to pass
The Mississippi Supreme Court on May 28 unanimously held in a tax and gambling case that a state tax statute requiring judicial deference to a state agency’s interpretation of an unclear law—a doctrine known as Chevron deference at the federal level—was unconstitutional because it prohibited the court from exercising its constitutional duty to interpret the…
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Indiana moves administrative law judges to central panel
The state of Indiana on July 1 launched the new Office of Administrative Law Proceedings (OALP) to serve a central hub for the state’s administrative law judges (ALJs) and agency adjudicative proceedings. The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 authorizing the creation of the OALP. The new central office transitions ALJs away from direct…
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U.S. Supreme Court: Agencies had authority to create religious and moral exemptions from Obamacare contraception mandate
With a 7-2 decision in Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld religious and moral exemptions to Obamacare’s contraception mandate. The majority opinion held that federal agencies followed proper procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to create the exemptions, and that the Little Sisters…