From Legislation
to Regulation
Jason Webb Yackee
UW Law School
Susan Webb Yackee
UW-Madison
S
2/2015: Preliminary Work; Please Do Not Cite Without Permission
Delegation
S Widely Studied
S Lack of Research Matching the
Congress-Bureaucracy (Ex Ante)
A. Admin. Procedures (MNW)
B. Statutory Specification
(Huber and Shipan)
(1) Demand for Delegated Policy with
(2) Supply of that Policy
S Agency Perspective is Often Missing
S Implications for Congress,
Bureaucracy, Law, and Policymaking
Research Question:
Why
Why
doare
agencies
some congressional
fail to regulate
when
laws
commanded
not acted upon
to do by
so?
government agencies?
S
Why?
Why “Respond”?
Why “Ignore”?
S
Substantive Statute
S
Workload/Resources
S
Member/Voting
S
Other Priorities
S
External Political Environment
S
Ex Post Oversight Weak
Measurement
Demand
Supply
S All Statutes giving Rule-
S All DOI NPRMs (and FRs)
Writing Authority to
Secretary of Interior (DOI)
S 1900-90 (1,058 Stat.)
S 1947-87 (392 Stat.)
MATCH
S 1950-90 (3,086 NPRMs)
S Why DOI?
S Authority Citation
S One Would Expect…
Demand, 1900-1990
40
Average=11.5 New
Statutes Per Year
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1900
1905
1910
1915
1920
1925
1930
1935
1940
1945
1950
1955
1960
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
Demand, 1947-1987
Mandatory
19%
Discretionary
35%
Intermediate
46%
Demand, 1947-1987
60%
50%
Yearly Percent of
Statutes with Deadlines
40%
Overall, 7% of All
Statutes have Deadlines
30%
20%
10%
0%
1947
1952
1957
1962
1967
1972
1977
1982
1987
0
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980
1981
1982
1983
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
Supply, 1950-1990
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
Final Rule Count
DOI NPRMs
The Match
Data
S
36% of Statutes Match with
NPRMs
S
59% of Mandatory Statutes Match
S
EX) In 1987, at least 5 NPRMs
were issued using only
Discretionary Statutes, while 31
Mandatory Statutes (in the data)
had not yet resulted in an NPRM.
S
68% Deadline Statutes Match
Statutes w/1+
1. Descriptives
S Mode
1
S Median=
3
S Range=
1 to 593
2. Time to 1st NPRM
S Median=
1.76 years
S Range=
<1 to 32 years
Demand and Supply
FWS
80% Matched
BIA
47% Matched
NPS
62% Matched
BLM
47% Matched
S Substantive Statute
S Mandatory (+)*
S Deadline (+)*
S Statute Significance (+)*
S Multiple Authority (+)
S Statute Specificity (+)
First Look
Logit Model
DV
= Any NPRM
Indicators = Agency & Decades
Fit
= Solid
S Member/Voting
S Conference Committee (-)
S Vote Unanimity (+)
S External Political Environment
S Divided Gov’t (+/-)*
S CQ Story (+)*
S SOU (+)*
S Senate Hearings (+)*
S DC Court of Appeals (+)
S Presidential Party (-)
S Workload/Resources
S Final Rules (-)
S Employees (+)/(-)*
S Budgets (+)
Conclusion
S Next Steps
S P1) Adding Committee Info, Hearing Reports, and Co-
Sponsors
S P2) Event History Modeling
S P3) Regulation Based Analyses
S Implications
S Delegation and Discretion
S Are These “Closely” Linked?
S How Much Slippage is Acceptable?
S How “Long” is too “Long” for Responsiveness?
Thank you!
Jason Webb Yackee
Associate Professor
UW Law School
Susan Webb Yackee
Professor
UW-Madison
Demand, 1947-1987
6.0%
Standardized by Total
# of Public Laws
5.0%
Standardized = 2.5%
4.0%
3.0%
2.0%
1.0%
0.0%
1947
1950
1953
1956
1959
1962
1965
1968
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
Demand, 1900-1990
FWS
NPS
BIA
BLM
Demand, 1947-1987
25
Statutes with Multiple
Grants of Rulemaking
20
15
10
5
0
1947
1950
1953
1956
1959
1962
1965
1968
1971
1974
1977
1980
1983
1986
Mandatory
Intermediate
Discretionary
1990
1988
1986
1984
1982
1980
1978
1976
1974
1972
1970
1968
1966
1964
1962
1960
1958
1956
1954
1952
1950
1948
35
1946
40
1944
1942
1940
1938
1936
1934
1932
1930
1928
1926
1924
1922
1920
1918
1916
1914
1912
1910
1908
1906
1904
1902
1900
Demand, 1900-1990
45
Frequency of
Authorizing Words
in Statutes by Year
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Policymaking in Agencies
Textbook Treatment
Congress
President
Do These “Details” Matter?
1. Outcome is Important
2. Process is Important
Administrative
Agency
= Substance
= Implement Policy
Administrative Procedure
Act of 1946
The Notice and Comment Rulemaking
Draft Rule
(NPRM)
•
•
Public
Comment
Final Rule
General Policy Decisions (Legally-Binding)
Clearest Ex. of Delegated Policymaking
Demand and Supply
FWS
67% Matched;
80% Matched
NPS
50% Matched;
62% Matched
BLM
38% Matched;
47% Matched
BIA
20% Matched;
47% Matched