Administrative Law

Administrative Process Field Study
Fall Semester, 2004
Prof. Meidinger
Due: TBA, 718 O’Brian Hall
You can email it if you prefer to my secretary, Lois Stutzman, at stutzman@buffalo.edu, but ask for a receipt to make sure it was received.

For this assignment you will need to find a government agency, observe one of its proceedings, learn about the relevant administrative law dimensions of the proceeding, and write a reflective description of the proceeding and its legal and social context. The primary purpose of this assignment is to help you better understand the material we are studying by providing a specific context you can use to think about it.

You are free to examine any administrative body at any level of government. You are also free to observe any process that involves policy making or implementation. The only real requirement is that the proceeding be part of an agency effort to make a decision.

You may write up to eight single spaced pages, but should not feel obliged to write that much. Most papers are likely to be four to six pages. The pages should be numbered, the margins ample (at least 1-1/4 inches on the sides and one inch on the top and bottom), and the font readily readable. Total words may not exceed 4000.

The following are topics your paper should discuss. They need not be in any specific order, and you are certainly free to examine others that you deem to be relevant.

  1. Nature and Stage of the Proceeding. Is it a rulemaking, an adjudication, or something else? What were the prior stages of the proceeding and which ones are likely to follow? How many procedures of this kind does the agency conduct in an average year?
  2. Issue(s) to be decided. What are the issues? How and by whom were they defined?
  3. Agency Authority for carrying out the proceeding -- statutory, rule-based, and other. Briefly summarize.
  4. Substantive Agency Mandate. What purposes or goals is the agency supposed to achieve through the proceeding? How specific or general is the mandate? Where did it come from?
  5. Nature and Sources of Information. What kinds of information are used in the proceeding, and how are they obtained?
  6. Judicial Review. Is the agency’s decision in this proceeding subject to judicial review, and if so according to what standards?
  7. Interests and Goals of the Participants. As best you can discern, what goals are the various participants trying to achieve? How much do they conflict?
  8. A View of the Proceeding from the Perspective of One of the Participants. You are free to choose any participant: agency official, party, intervenor, or even active observer or commentor. As best you can understand, what does the proceeding look like to this person?
  9. Critical Evaluation. In your estimation how well is the process working and how could it be improved?

 

Some Agencies Studied by Previous Students (many other possibilities exist)

Buffalo Board of Education, Buffalo School District
Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency
Chautauqua County Department of Social Services
Florida State Career Services Board
Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force
New York State Adirondack Park Agency
New York State and Local Policemen’s and Firemen’s Retirement System
New York State Board of Parole
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation
New York State Department of Conservation (and Brighton Town Board)
New York State Department of Labor
New York State Department of Social Services
New York State Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, Buffalo Licensing Bureau
New York State Division of Human Rights
New York State Division of Parole
New York State Public Employees Relations Board
New York State Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board
New York State Workers’ Compensation Board
Rochester City School Board
Town of Amherst Zoning Board of Appeals
Town of Amherst Planning Board
Town of Chili Conservation Board
Town of Chili Town Board
Town of Clarence Central School District Board of Education
Town of Lancaster Planning Board
Town of Tonawanda Town Board
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office of Immigration Review
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service
U.S. National Labor Relations Board
U.S. Social Security Administration
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
U.S. Railroad Retirement Board
U.S. Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Village of Hamburg Planning Board

Note that some of the above organizations imply a somewhat loose definition of "agency." If you have any doubts about the agency you intend to look at, we can discuss it. Often the best way to access an agency proceeding is simply to contact the agency, and perhaps to ask to speak to an administrative law judge or someone who participates in rulemaking. Another route may be to ask a practicing lawyer whether it might be possible to observe a proceeding in which he or she is participating.