FEDERAL+ADMINISTRATIVE+MATERIALS

=**FEDERAL ADMINISTRATIVE MATERIALS**=

__**Terms to Know**__


 * Rules and Regulations**: statements of general or particular applicability made by an agency and are designed to implement, interpret, or prescribe law or policy.
 * Orders**: the final disposition of an agency matter.
 * Advisory Opinions**: contain agency advice regarding contemplated action.
 * Decisions**: many federal agencies are allowed to decide controversies arising out of their own statutes and administrative rules.

__**Administrative Procedure Act**__
 * Passed in 1946.
 * Codified at 5 USC §500 et seq.
 * APA supplemented by CFR regulations.
 * A basic guideline for practice before federal administrative agencies.

__**Authority of an administrative agency to issue regulations**__
 * From a Presidential Executive Order OR
 * Federal Statute

__**ADMINISTRATIVE REGULATION SOURCES**__

> o Table of Contents (agencies listed alphabetically) > o CFR Parts Affected > o Presidential Documents > o Notices (grant application deadlines, filing of petitions/applications) > o Unified Agenda of Federal Regulations (agendas that are published April and October describing regulatory actions that are in development).
 * __Federal Register__**
 * Began in 1935 pursuant to the Federal Register Act (44 USC §§1501-1511, 49 Stat. 500 (1935)
 * Publishes any administrative rule that has general applicability and legal effect.
 * Published Monday-Friday, except holidays.
 * Consists of

__Accessing the Federal Register__ > o **HeinOnline**: full text, PDF documents from volume 1 to the present. Searchable. > o **GPO Access**: full text, PDF documents from 1994 to the present. Searchable. > o **Westlaw**: under Administrative Rules and Regulations. Full text documents from 1936 to the present. Searchable. > o **Lexis**: Under Statutes, Regulations, Materials etc… Full text documents from 1980 to the present. Searchable. > o **Congressional Universe**: full text from 1980-present. Can either search or get a document if you know the citation.
 * Print
 * Electronically

__Searching the Federal Register__
 * **Federal Register Index**: issued every month and organized by alphabetically by agency. Cumulates for each month issued. December is the final issue for a particular year.
 * Use the index UNLESS you know the FR date and page number you are looking for.

__**Code of Federal Regulations**__ > o Titles 1-16[Jan] > o Titles 17-27[Apr] > o Titles 28-41[July] > o Titles 42-50 [Oct]
 * Began in 1938 due to Federal Register having no subject access.
 * Codifies what’s published in the Federal Register into subject specific areas.
 * Consists of 50 titles, subdivided into chapters, subchapters, parts and sections.
 * Titles updated quarterly:

__Accessing the CFR__ > o **HeinOnline**: full text, PDF documents from 1938 to the present. Searchable. > o **GPO Access**: full text, PDF documents from 1996 to the present. Searchable. > o **Westla**w: organized by area of practice, historical, and current year. Searchable. > o **Lexis**: current year only. Searchable. > o **Congressional Universe**: full text from 1981 to the present. Can either search or get a document if citation known. > o **e-CFR**: on GPO Access is the most up-to-date version of the CFR.
 * Print
 * Electronically

__Searching the CFR__


 * CFR Index**: organized alphabetically by subject and agency name. Use for doing general subject or agency name research.
 * Parallel Table of Authorities and Rules**: use when you know the EO or law that authorizes the issuance of regulations. Organized into 4 different sections: USC citation, Statutes at Large citation, public law citation, or presidential document citation.
 * Authority Note**: lists the statutory authorization (enabling statute) for the particular regulation you are looking at.

__Updating the CFR__


 * List of Sections Affected**: issued monthly and includes final and proposed changes to regulations adopted since LAST publication of the CFR. December issue cumulates all changes for Titles 1-16; March issue 17-27, June issue 28-41, September 42-50.
 * CFR Parts Affected**: Included in the Federal Register. List is cumulative for one calendar month.

__Other Internet Sites for Regulations


 * Regulations.gov**__: contains regulations from approximately 300 agencies. Can search for proposed rules, finals rules or FR notice, submit a comment on a regulation or on another comment, submit an application, petition or adjudication document or Sign up for e-mail alerts about a specific regulation

Sometimes agencies issue administrative directives, interpretative regulations, or informal policy statements to explain a regulation or supplement their policies. At times, these are just as important as the regulation itself.


 * AGENCY DECISIONS AND OPINIONS**


 * Federal agencies can serve an adjudicatory function such as issue decisions.
 * In most cases, administrative decisions can be appealed to the Federal courts.
 * These decisions can be found in various Official (see Bluebook, 18th edition, pages 196-97 for a list of official reports and decisions)

__Unofficial Publications for Administrative Decisions__
 * Look in the **online catalog** to determine if the library has unofficial publications for administrative agency decisions.


 * **Lexis**: under library Federal Agency Decisions Combined. Searches all federal agencies. If you know a particular area of law, for example, education law, you can look under the Area of Law by Topic category and click on the law you are interested in. If applicable, an administrative agency will be included in the particular topic chosen and you can select Find Administrative Materials.


 * **Westlaw**: under Federal Administrative Decisions and broken down by agency. Can also look at Topical Materials by Area of Practice (when you know the practice area).


 * **HeinOnline**: under U.S. Federal Agency Documents, Decisions and Appeals. Good for older administrative agency decisions. Not all administrative agencies are included.

> o __List of administrative agencies__ > o __Administrative Decisions and Other Actions-By Agency__
 * **Also check the Administrative Agency’s website online.**