Legislative Considerations in Organizing Regulatory Agencies

Published date01 May 1942
AuthorEdwin O. Stene
Date01 May 1942
DOI10.1177/000271624222100109
Subject MatterArticles
49
Legislative
Considerations
in
Organizing
Regulatory
Agencies
By
EDWIN
O.
STENE
DURING
the
last
few
years
legis-
lative
bodies,
both
national
and
state,
have
displayed
an
active
interest
in
the
organization
and
procedures
of
administrative
commissions
and
other
regulatory
agencies.
The
Walter-Logan
bill
represented
an
attempt
to
stand-
ardize
procedures
and
to
augment
the
opportunities
to
litigate
against
pro-
posed
governmental
action.
On
two
other
occasions
Congressional
consid-
eration
was
induced
by
administrative
reports-one
by
the
President’s
Com-
mittee
on
Administrative
Management
and
the
other
by
the
Attorney
General’s
Committee
on
Administrative
Procedure
-but
the
records
of
committee
hear-
ings
and
debates
provide
evidence
of
deep
Congressional
interest
in
the
status
and
operation
of
regulatory
commis-
sions.
There
is
evidence
also
of
recent
legis-
lative
interest
in
regulatory
agencies
of
state
governments.
Laws
regulating
practice
before
commissions
have
been
passed
or
proposed
in
several
states.
The
Kansas
Legislative
Council
made
a
study
of
legislative
functions
of
ad-
ministrative
agencies
in
1938,
and
in
1941
the
same
body
was
directed
to
make
a
study
of
the
functions
of
state
administrative
agencies
with
the
view
to
&dquo;transferring
or
retransferring
same
to
the
proper
governmental
agencies
and
the
proper
vesting
of
judicial
functions
of
such
administrative
agencies ...
in
the
district
or
other
courts
of
the
state.&dquo;
1
CAUSES
OF
LEGISLATIVE
INTEREST
This
legislative
interest
in
the
process
of
administrative
regulation
is
doubtless
a
reflection
of
the
general
concern
over
the
apparent
departure
from
our
tradi-
tional
separation
of
powers.
The
legis-
lature
observes
the
creatures
of
its
own
action
and
is
troubled
by
the
broad
scope
of
their
operations,
which
appar-
ently
include
traditional
legislative
and
judicial
functions
as
well
as
executive
functions.
Legislators
seem
to
be
torn
between
a
desire
to
break
these
regu-
latory
functions
into
their
component
parts,
which
can
then
be
reassigned
to
the
&dquo;proper&dquo;
branches
of
government,
and
a
desire,
at
the
same
time,
to
pro-
tect
the
agencies
against
encroachment
or
interference
by
the
chief
executive----
on
a
theory
that
executive
control
is
tantamount
to
a
usurpation
of
legis-
lative
powers.
But
the
bills
and
resolutions
that
ap-
pear
on
the
legislative
calendars
and
the
debates
heard
in
the
chambers
on
the
subject
of
administrative
regulation
may
be
little
more
than
rationalizations
resulting
from
the
political
pressures
of
economic
and
other
special
interest
groups.
The
legal
profession,
which
has
a
voice
in
legislative
bodies
out
of
pro-
portion
to
its
numbers,
has
become
dis-
turbed
by
the
rapid
growth
of
admin-
istrative
adjudication
and
the
effect
of
that
trend
upon
the
influence
and
eco-
nomic
welfare
of
its
own
members.
And
the
great
industrial
and
financial
classes
that
are
unfavorably
affected
by
legis-
lation
enforced
through
regulatory
agen-
cies
seek
by
divers
means
to
release
themselves
from
the
&dquo;chains
of
govern-
1
Senate
Resolution
No.
32,
Session
of
1941;
Item
No. 3,
Kansas
Legislative
Council
Agenda
for
May
21,
1941.
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