Administrative Conference of the United States ACUS

The Administrative Conference Act, signed on August 30, 1964, made permanent a series of temporary conferences on improving federal administrative procedure, and the Administrative Conference of the United States began work in 1968. Congress stopped funding it in 1995 as part of budget cuts, and it was revived with bipartisan support in 2010. It is led by a Chairman appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate to a five-year term, with a small staff and a budget of a few million dollars.

ACUS brings together senior officials from federal agencies with private lawyers, scholars, and judges, who meet in a plenary assembly to adopt formal recommendations on how agencies make rules, hold hearings, handle public comments, use technology, and manage their adjudicators. Its research and recommendations have shaped practices such as electronic rulemaking, plain-language regulations, and procedures for the thousands of administrative judges who decide benefit and enforcement cases. It also advises Congress and agencies on request.

Because it has no power to impose its recommendations, ACUS's influence depends on agencies and Congress choosing to follow them. Supporters across the political spectrum value it as a nonpartisan forum for making government procedures fairer and more efficient at very low cost. Its work has gained relevance as courts have narrowed deference to agency interpretations and as debates continue over the independence and selection of administrative law judges.