6th Annual Bridge the Legal Research Gap
June 27, 2001

Researching Administrative Law

Prepared by Kristen Cheney.
Revised from University of Washington, Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library, Administrative Law Research Guide available at http://lib.law.uwashington.edu/ref/admin.htm.

Administrative law is the body of law created by administrative agencies in the form of rules, regulations, procedures, orders, and decisions. Administrative agencies (federal, state, or municipal) perform regulatory functions such as licensing, rulemaking, and enforcing. The basic procedural standards for federal agencies are set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act (5 USC §551 et seq.) Most states also have administrative procedure acts. Through delegation, agencies are given the power to make policy (rulemaking) and to apply policies in individual cases (adjudication).

General Sources

· ABA Administrative Procedure Database, http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/admin/index.html, at Florida State University College of Law, contains text and links related to federal and state administrative law.

· Kenneth Culp Davis & Richard J. Pierce, Administrative Law Treatise (KF5402.D32 1994 at UW Reserve; at SU Reference Stacks) is a 3 volume scholarly treatment of administrative law.

· Ernest Gellhorn & Ronald M. Levin, Administrative Law and Process in a Nutshell (KF5402.Z9G4 1997 at Reserve) provides an abbreviated overview of administrative law.

· Other administrative law-related materials can be found under call numbers KF5401-KF5425.

Federal Administrative Law Research

Directories and Guides

· U.S. Government Manual (JK421.U57 at UW Reserve and Reference Office; JK421.A3 at SU Reference Desk) provides overviews of Congress, the judicial branch, and executive branch agencies and departments. Includes historical information on changes in agency organization.

Ø LEXIS-NEXIS: LEXREF;USGM

Ø Westlaw: US-GOVMAN

Ø Internet: GPO Access, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/nara001.html

· Congressional Quarterly's Federal Regulatory Directory (KF5406.A15F4 at UW Reference Office; SU Reference Stacks) contains extensive descriptions about individual regulatory agencies, with appendices of the Administrative Procedure Act and the Freedom of Information Act.

· Leadership Directories' Federal Yellow Book (JK6.F45 at SU Reference Stacks), a who's who in federal departments and agencies.

· U.S. General Services Administration, Regininfo.gov, http://www.reginfo.gov/. Contains links to federal, state, and local regulatory agencies. Includes the Unified Agenda and Regulatory Plan, a semi-annual description of the regulation and deregulation plans of federal agencies.

Finding Agency Regulations

· Federal Register (KF70.A2 at UW Reference Stacks, daily; at SU Reference Stacks current issues only, older issues on microform) contains proposed and adopted agency regulations as they are issued. It also includes notices of meetings, hearing, and adjudicatory proceedings and the text of presidential proclamations and executive orders. A cumulative index is published monthly; the December index covers the entire year.

Ø LEXIS-NEXIS: GENFED;FEDREG, from July 1980

Ø Westlaw: FR, from July 1980

Ø Loislaw: from 1999

Ø Internet: GPO Access, from 1994, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/aces/aces140.html.

· Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) (KF70.A3) contains current regulations, arranged by subject. The CFR is divided into 50 titles, based on broad subject categories. Subject access is through the CFR Index/Finding Aids volume. (Note: United States Code Service also has an index to the CFR.)

Ø LEXIS-NEXIS: GENFED;CFR, from 1981

Ø Westlaw: CFR, from 1984

Ø Loislaw: current

Ø Internet: GPO Access, current, http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/index.html

 

Updating Regulations

1. Note the date of revision on the cover of the CFR volume that contains your regulation, e.g., "Revised as of January 1, 2001."

2. Check the most recent monthly LSA: List of CFR Sections Affected, which is arranged by CFR title and section, for references to your CFR section. If there have been any changes, the LSA will tell you the nature of the changes and provide references to pages in the Federal Register.

3. Note: Because of the revision schedule, occasionally you may need to check an older LSA pamphlet as well. The main thing is to look at the dates of the CFR and LSA volumes to make sure you have continuous coverage from the time your CFR regulation was last revised up until the present.

4. Now go to the Federal Register. Consult the last day of each month since the LSA pamphlet that you looked at in the previous step. There will be a section in the back called "List of CFR Parts Affected during [month]."

5. The last step is to check the last day of the current month in the Federal Register.

Finding Agency Decisions

Many federal administrative agencies issue written decisions. How to Find the Law, 9th ed. (KF240.C538 1989 at Reserve and Reference Office) contains a table that lists both the commercial and official titles of agency decisions. Veronica Maclay, "Selected Sources of United States Agency Decisions," 16 Government Publications Review 271-301 (1989) contains a more complete list of print sources.

· Both LEXIS-NEXIS and Westlaw contain various federal agency databases. See LEXIS-NEXIS Directory of Online Services (annual) or the online directory, http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/literature/Directory/default.htm and Westlaw Database Directory (annual) or the online version, http://directory.westlaw.com/.

· Internet

Ø GPO Access, http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/admin.html. Includes decisions from Federal Labor Relations Authority, General Accounting Office Comptroller General, Merit Systems Protection Board, National Labor Relations Board, and the Office of Compliance.

Ø University of Virginia Law Library, Federal Administrative Decisions & Other Actions, http://www.law.virginia.edu/admindec. Links to collections of federal administrative agency decisions on the Internet; arranged by agency name.

 

Washington State Administrative Law Research

Directories and Guides

· Washington State Yearbook (JK9230.W38 at UW Reserve and Reference Office, annual; JK9201.W37 at SU Reference Desk, annual).

· Washington Administrative Law Practice Manual (KFW440.W36 1991 at Reserve).

· Washington Legal Researcher's Deskbook 2d (KFW75.W37 1996 at Reserve and Reference Office), especially pages 94-99 (on rules and regulations) and pages 133-52 (on administrative agency decisions).

· Access Washington, Index to State Agencies, Boards and Commissions, http://access.wa.gov/government/awstate.asp. 

 

Finding Agency Regulations

· Washington State Register (KFW35 at Washington Alcove and Reference Office, biweekly; SU Reference Stacks) contains the proposed, emergency, and permanently adopted rules of state agencies, as well as governor’s executive orders and notices of public meetings.

Ø LEXIS-NEXIS: WASH; WARGST

Ø CD-Law

Ø Internet:

§ Office of the Code Reviser http://slc.leg.wa.gov/wsr/register.htm.

§ Washington State Legislature http://search.leg.wa.gov/basic/textsearch/default.asp. Allows searches in databases for the RCW, WAC, and the Washington State Register; Register from 1998.

· Washington Administrative Code (WAC) (KFW36 at Washington Alcove, Reserve, and Reference Office, biennial; SU Reference Stacks) contains the current and permanent rules and regulations of the state agencies.

Ø   LEXIS-NEXIS: WASH;WAADMIN

Ø   Westlaw: WA-ADC

Ø CD-Law

Ø Loislaw

Ø   Internet:

§ Office of the Code Reviser, http://slc.leg.wa.gov/wacbytitle.htm. Arranged by title.

§ Washington State Legislature, http://search.leg.wa.gov/basic/textsearch/default.asp. Allows searches in databases for the RCW, WAC, and the Washington State Register.

§ Municipal Research & Services Center, http://www.mrsc.org/wac.htm.

 

Updating Agency Regulations

1. Note the coverage date on the cover of the Washington Administrative Code volume.

2. Consult the supplement, if any.

3. Consult the table of WAC sections affected in the latest issue of the Washington State Register.

 

Finding Agency Decisions

See Chapter 4, "Administrative Decisions and Materials," in Washington Legal Researcher’s Deskbook, 2d ed., Chapter 4 (KFW75.W371996 at Reserve and Reference Office) for a list of agency decision sources.

· LEXIS-NEXIS

Ø Examples include

§ Washington Attorney General opinions: WASH; WAAG

§ Washington Board of Tax Appeals decisions: WASH; WATAX

§ Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission decisions: WASH; WAPUC

Ø For additional sources, see the LEXIS-NEXIS Directory of Online Services (annual) or the online directory, http://www.lexis-nexis.com/lncc/literature/Directory/default.htm.

· Westlaw

Ø Examples include

§ Washington Commission on Judicial Conduct disciplinary opinions: WAETH-DISP

§ Washington Growth Management Hearings Boards decisions: WA-GMHB

§ Washington Public Employment Relations Commission decisions: WALB-ADMIN

Ø For additional sources, see the Westlaw Database Directory (annual) or the online version, http://directory.westlaw.com/.  

· Internet: See "Washington State Rules, Regulations, and Other Administrative Documents," on the internet Legal Resources page, http://lib.law.washington.edu/research/research.html.

 

Other States’ Administrative Law Research

Most state administrative systems parallel the federal model. To find out what state administrative materials exist, look in The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, 16th ed. (KF245.U5 at Reserve and Reference Office) or BNA’s Directory of State Administrative Codes and Registers, 2d ed. (KF85.M5 1995 at UW Reference Office; KF2.K56 at SU Reference Desk).

Many state codes, registers, and administrative decisions are available on LEXIS-NEXIS, Westlaw, and/or the Internet; see the vendors’ database directories for specific contents. Links to state codes, registers, and government manuals on the Internet are provided by the National Association of Secretaries of State, http://www.nass.org/acr/internet.html. The Law Librarians' Society of the District of Columbia also maintains a website with links to state legislatures, laws, and administrative regulations, http://www.llsdc.org/sourcebook/state-leg.htm. 

Cheryl Nyberg, State Administrative Law Bibliography: Print and Electronic Sources (KF5406.A1N93 2000 at UW Reference Office; KF5401.A1N97 at SU Reference Stacks) identifies sources of state regulations and administrative agency decisions. Her "State Administrative Law on the Web," http://www.state-laws.com/stateadmin.html, links to web-based sources of regulations and administrative agency decisions.