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![handle is hein.usfed/techafgl0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
AD IRA TIVE CONFERENCE OF1 THE UNITED TATE
Administrative Conference Recommendation 2015-2
Technical Assistance by Federal Agencies in the Legislative Process
Adopted December 4, 2015
Federal agencies play a significant role in the legislative process.' While agencies can be
the primary drafters of the statutes they administer, it is more common for agencies to respond
to Congressional requests to provide technical assistance in statutory drafting. Despite the
extent of agency involvement in drafting legislation, the precise nature of the interactions
between agencies and Congress in the drafting process remains obscure.
Generally speaking, federal agencies engage in two kinds of legislative drafting activities:
substantive and technical. Legislative activities considered substantive are subject to the Office
of Management and Budget (OMB) coordination and preclearance process governed by OMB
Circular A-19, which does not explicitly define substantive legislative activities or technical
legislative assistance.2 Substantive legislative activities include the submission of agencies'
annual legislative programs, proposed legislation such as draft bills and supporting documents
an agency may present to Congress, any endorsement of federal legislation, and the submission
of agency views on pending bills before Congress as well as official agency testimony before a
Congressional committee.
Agencies also provide Congress with technical drafting assistance. Rather than originating
with the agency or the Administration, in the case of technical assistance, Congress originates
1 See Christopher J. Walker, Federal Agencies in the Legislative Process: Technical Assistance in Statutory Drafting 1-
4 (November 2015), available at https://www.acus.gov/report/technical-assistance-draft-report [hereinafter
Walker Report].
2 Office of Management and Budget, Circular A-19 (revised Sept. 20, 1979),
https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/circulars_aOl9/ [hereinafter OMB Circular A-19].
3 Id. §§ (6)(a), (7)(a).
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