substantive civil Law (administrative law)

one of our sources of law
- administrative agencies do not make law, they make rules that may have the effect of law

originally created to assist in the implementation in applying laws of congressional acts
- ex: social security administration

safety net for when people retire, force you to put money away

made to implement the social security act

enabling statute

the law is passed by a congress that creates the agency

- enforcement powers
- adjudication powers
- administrative law judge (ALJ)
- rule making power

allows an agency to investigate and enforce legislative laws and agency rules
- have the right to investigate by forcing you to testify and inspect your facility or workspace

allow an agency to issue rulings on the application of laws and rules in specific situations
- acting like a court system

the person who is making these decisions in an agency

they can't make laws but we need them to make something so they make rules but is limited

almost all agency has power, power that allows agencies to set up their internal structure

giving you an opinion on the application of agency rules or government law

when the agency creates legislative type rules it applies to everyone under their jurisdiction

tells the agency how they do this, how they create rules, they need to create them properly

- informal ruling
- formal ruling

(most common)
requires the agency to have authority under the enabling statute, they have to provide due process

requires notice, opportunity to be heard but also requires evidence

the only thing the agency needs to show is that they had a rational basis for their decision and the decision is supported by relevant evidence

- they will focus on if the agency used the right procedure
- they will look at what rules they did or what actions they took
- if agencies have the authority to make rules under the enabling statute then they will assume what the agency did is okay

will be used to review any decisions that they make

- appropriation; they don't give them any money
- confirm the agency head
- amend the enabling statute
- amend the enabling statute with the same force as when the enabling statute was created

- has tremendous power over agencies
- they can cut their budget
- select the agency head
- micromanage the agency
- can interfere with the decision process

freedom information act
- may charge you a reasonable amount for those documents

the government must produce the records and documents it holds within 10 days

- any documents that relate to national security they do not have to released
- documents that involve personal or health information
- documents that deal with economic reports that are designed to confidential

(aka the government and sunshine law)
you have the right to see your government in action

- by decision making in a meeting unless they are going into closed session
- government must provide an agenda as to the topics at an open meeting
- the government is not supposed to act in a meeting unless they have a quorum

minimum amount of members necessary to conduct business