Preface

• Pages: v-vi

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Preface

We are pleased to introduce the fourth edition of the Federal Adminis-

trative Procedure Sourcebook. Initially begun by the Administrative Confer-

ence of the United States in 1985, with a second edition in 1992, this revision

of the Sourcebook is the second under the auspices of the American Bar

Association Section of Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice. It re-

flects dozens of statutory and regulatory changes in the eight years since the

last edition was published in early 2000.

With the 1995 demise of the Administrative Conference of the United

States (ACUS), the American Bar Association’s Section of Administrative

Law and Regulatory Practice decided to continue updating and publishing

this Sourcebook—one of ACUS’s most popular and valuable texts—so that

the closing of ACUS would not end the utility of this resource guide.

This fourth edition of the Sourcebook, like previous ones, provides ac-

cess to, and explanations of, many of the laws broadly applicable to federal

agency officials. It contains new chapters dealing with several statutes and

other authorities that were not covered previously. These include the E-

Government Act of 2002 and the Information Quality Act. It covers major

recent developments under the Administrative Dispute Resolution Act, Con-

tract Disputes Act, Government Performance and Results Act, Paperwork

Reduction Act, and Regulatory Flexibility Act. It provides a compilation and

description of more than a dozen White House Orders and Memoranda on

Rulemaking (including several recent ones), extensive administrative law

teaching and research materials, and information on recent cases and articles

relating to federal administrative procedure. Also, this edition references

information on online materials and web addresses likely to be of use to

lawyers and researchers in this area.

The Sourcebook is intended for several audiences. A primary audience is

comprised of agency administrators, attorneys, and other federal employees.

Thus, federal administrators wishing a concise description of a particular

statute’s operation and effect may refer to the overview section. Agency

officials and their attorneys may benefit at other times from a desk book that

compiles the major laws and related guidance that affect their operations

(apart from authorizing and budgetary statutes, of course). We also hope that

private attorneys, reviewing judges, scholars, congressional staff, and others

performing research in administrative law or public administration will find