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The Administrative Procedure Act (APA), , is the United States federal statute that governs the way in which administrative agencies of the federal government of the United States may propose and establish regulations. The APA also sets up a process for the United States federal courts to directly review agency decisions. It is one of the most important pieces of United States administrative law. The Act became law in 1946. The APA applies to both the federal executive departments and the independent agencies. U.S. Senator Pat McCarran called the APA "a bill of rights for the hundreds of thousands of Americans whose affairs are controlled or regulated" by federal government agencies. The text of the APA can be found under Title 5 of the United States Code, beginning at Section 500. There is a similar Model State Administrative Procedure Act (Model State APA) which was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws for oversight of state agencies. Not all states have adopted the model law wholesale as of 2007. The federal APA does not require systematic oversight of regulations prior to adoption as suggested by the Model APA.〔(2007). (OVERSIGHT AND INSIGHT: LEGISLATIVE REVIEW OF AGENCIES AND LESSONS FROM THE STATES ). ''Harvard Law Review''.〕 ==Historical background== Beginning in 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Democratic Congress enacted several statutes that created new federal agencies as part of the New Deal legislative plan, designed to deliver the United States from the social and economic hardship of the Great Depression. However, following the Great Depression and World War II the Congress became concerned about the expanding powers that federal agencies possessed, resulting in the enactment of the APA to regulate and standardize federal agency procedures.〔 The APA was born in a contentious political environment.〔Shepard, George. ''Fierce Compromise: The Administrative Procedure Act Emerges from New Deal Politics''. 90 Nw. U. L. Rev. 1557 (1996)〕 Professor George Shepard claims that Roosevelt’s opponents and supporters fought over passage of the APA "in a pitched political battle for the life of the New Deal" itself.〔''Ibid'' at 1562.〕 Shepard does note, however, that a legislative balance was struck with the APA, expressing "the nation's decision to permit extensive government, but to avoid dictatorship and central planning."〔''Ibid'' at 1559.〕 A 1946 U.S. House of Representatives report discusses the 10-year period of "painstaking and detailed study and drafting" that went into the APA.〔''Administrative Procedure Act'', Report of the House Judiciary Committee, No. 1989, 79th Congress, 1946.〕 Because of rapid growth in the administrative regulation of private conduct, Roosevelt ordered several studies of administrative methods and conduct during the early part of his four-term presidency.〔 Based on one study, Roosevelt commented that the practice of creating administrative agencies with the authority to perform both legislative and judicial work "threatens to develop a fourth branch of government for which there is no sanction in the Constitution." In 1939, Roosevelt requested that Attorney General Frank Murphy form a committee to investigate practices and procedures in American administrative law and suggest improvements. That committee's report, the ''Final Report of Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure'', contains detailed information about the development and procedures of the federal agencies.〔(''Final Report of Attorney General's Committee on Administrative Procedure'' ) (Senate Document No. 8, 77th Congress, First Session, 1941)〕 The ''Final Report'' defined a federal agency as a governmental unit with "the power to determine ... private rights and obligations" by rulemaking or adjudication.〔''Ibid'' at 7.〕 The report applied that definition to the largest units of the federal government, and identified "nine executive departments and eighteen independent agencies."〔 If various subdivisions of the larger units were considered, the total number of federal agencies at that time increased to 51. In reviewing the history of federal agencies, the ''Final Report'' noted that almost all agencies had undergone changes in name and political function. Of the 51 federal agencies discussed in the ''Final Report'', eleven were created by statute before the Civil War. From 1865 to 1900, six new agencies were created, notably the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887 in response to widespread criticism of the railroad industry. From 1900 to 1930, seventeen agencies were created by statute, and eighteen more during the 1930s as part of Roosevelt's New Deal. The ''Final Report'' made several recommendations about standardizing administrative procedures, but Congress delayed action as the U.S. entered World War II. Since 2005, the House Judiciary Committee has been undertaking an Administrative Law, Process and Procedure Project to consider changes to the Administrative Procedure Act. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Administrative Procedure Act」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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