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Federal regulatory directory
266
Book reviews
a great asset. Librarians will welcome the work as a needed reminder numerous finding aids contained within the system.
of the informational
wealth and
PATRICK J. WILKINSON Documents and Maps Librarian University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 USA
Federal Regulatory Directory. 1979/80- . Washington. DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc. Annual. Cover title: Congressional Quarfer[v S Federal Re,qulator.s Direclory. Key title: Federal Regu1ator.v Direcfory. ISSN 0195-749X. Price of 1980-1981 edition: $25.00. ISBN 0-87187-153-X. LC 79-644368. Despite studies undertaken in 1937. 1949. 1955. 1960, 1968, 1972. there are no agreed upon criteria for considering an agency part of the federal government’s regulatory apparatus. While the General Accounting Office cites I I6 agencies engaged in regulation and President Carter acknowledges a figure of 90 in his March 1979 regulatory reform message. Congressional Quarterly’s Directory covers those commissions and offices that satisfy the definition ofa federal regulatory office in a report entitled “Study on Federal Regulation”issued by the Senate Government Operations Committee in January 1977. In that report a federal regulatory office is defined as “one which (I) has decision-making authority. (2) establishes standards or guidelines conferring benefits and imposing restrictions on business conduct, (3) operates principally in the sphere of domestic business activity, (4) has its head and/or members appointed by the president . and (5) has its legal procedures generally governed by the Administrative Procedure Act.” The Federal Regulatory Directory. published by Congressional Quarterly Inc. for the period l980/ 82. is the second annual edition of this guide to regulators, regulations. jurisdiction. and data available to the public. The main body of the Directory is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the growth of regulation. trends toward deregulation, reform of agency procedure, cost/benefit analysis of agency actions and methods used to select regulators. Part 2 profiles I5 of the largest agencies and includes: coverage of the agency’s responsibilities, background. its powers and authority. biographies of commissioners and board members. organization chart and description of functions of numerous positions. information sources. details on public participation, regional offices. a listing of additional references and a glossary of terms pertinent to the agency’s field of regulation. A key feature in this second part is the section entitled “Congress and Legislation” providing information on congressional committees responsible for legislation. oversight. and appropriations and listing the laws administered by the regulatory agency that define its authority, structure, and function. Part 3 profiles other important regulatory agencies, both independent and within executive departments. including summaries of responsibilities. lists of telephone contacts. mformation sources and regional offices. An appendix contains material on the Federal Re,gisrer. the Code yf’ Federal Regularions. the Administrative Procedure Act and its amendments. the Freedom of Information Act. the Privacy Act, and Government in the Sunshine Act. Overall arrangement of the present edition is the same as in the Directory issued for 1979/80. The regulatory agencies represented in Part 2 are identical to those chosen for the previous edition: Civil Aeronautics Board. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Economic Regulatory Administration, Environmental Protection Agency. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Communications Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Federal Reserve System. Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration. Interstate Commerce Commission. National Labor Relations Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Part 3 reveals an increase of almost 50% from 63 to 94 regulatory agencies and offices. A new feature is a section entitled “Regulatory Oversight and Coordination” that briefly examines the authority, structure, and function of the Administrative Conference of the United States, the Consumer Affairs Council, the General Accounting Office. the Interagency Regulatory Liaison Group. the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Regulatory and Information Policy. the Regulatory Analysis Review Group. and the United States Regulatory Council. In both editions an index cross-references subjects. agencies. and personal names in a single alphabetical sequence. Although there is an overall growth of 12% in the si7e of the new edition as against the earlier one. the additions are uneven in the quality of their content. New entries receiving adequate analysis are added for:
Book reviews
261
the National Mediation Board created by a 1934 amendment to the Railway Labor Act; the Postal Rate Commission created by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970; and the Department of Energy’s Office of Conservation and Solar Energy. The second edition notes that the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration had been merged into the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics by the Justice Systems Improvement Act of 1979, but no explanation is offered for dropping the Treasury Department’s Office of Tariff Affairs, which had appeared in the previous edition. The Health and Human Services Department’s Public Health Service, Office of Human Development Services, Health Care Financing Administration, and Child Support Enforcement Administration are among 23 of the new entries covered in 16 pages of text. The new section (“Regulatory Oversight and Coordination”) which purports to examine seven entities involved in oversight of the regulatory process does so in the space of less than five pages. Moreover, the treatment of the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations and the various acts appearing in the appendix is identical in the two editionswhich means that several new finding aids published in the Federal Register are not discussed. Although these limitations do exist the Directory’s willingness to grow and develop into a comprehensive guide to all federal regulatory activities is in evidence with changes and enhancements to existing entries. For information sources greater care is taken to provide listings for both consumer and media information. Biographies of commissioners and board members now include political affiliation, listing as well the nature of appointment, extent of education, profession, and previous career. The sections on publications available from these agencies and the listing of legislation important for an understanding of the office’s authority, structure, and function have been enhanced by additions of retrospective information as well a entries reflecting changes in the past year. Significant improvement is made to the legislation sections for the National Bureau of Standards, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Geological Survey, and the Employment Standards Administration. The present edition’s entry for the Mine Safety and Health Administration adds a section on technical support centers under “Information sources” and also cites the Health and Safety Analysis Center. The unevenness in the quality of the changes is also in evidence in the entry for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; while the second edition expands the list of data centers in the “Information Sources”section, the former listing of “Regional Offices’*is replaced in the current edition with a note that a complete list of regional facilities is included in The NOAA Story, available from NOAA’s Office of Public Affairs. Taken together the two editions of the Directory prove to be an important reference source for those seeking information on the federal government’s regulatory apparatus. The Federal Regulatory Directory also serves as the perfect complement to the Calendar of Federal Regulations issued by the Regulatory Council since February 1979 as a semiannual publication providing a comprehensive catalog of important regulations under development. RICHARD I. KORMAN Specialist in Government Publications Bibliography Serial and Government Publications Division Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540 USA The Fiscal Congress: Legislative Control of the Budget. By Lance T. LeLoup. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. (Contributions in Political Science; no. 47) 227 pp S25.00. ISBN o-313-22009-3. LC 79-6823. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 radically altered the pace and pattern of budget activity in Congress. The act imposed a strict timetable on budget actions, gave new Budget Committees general oversight and control over budget totals, and created the Congressional Budget Office as an information and research resource for Congress on budget issues. This study of the first five years of congressional budgeting under the 1974 act seeks to determine whether, and how much, the new system enhances Congress’ fiscalpowers. The author, a member of the political science faculty of the University of Missouri at St. Louis, has published several previous works on budget-related problems. After a review of the history of Congressional budget reform, the work of both old and new money committees, and the course of budget politics under the new law, the author concludes that the act’s procedural impact has been substantial and its policy impact slight. That is, the mass of authorization and appropriation legislation is now more coherently integrated and efficiently dispatched than before, but there has not been much discernible change in the structuring of national priorities, levels of federal
Book reviews
a great asset. Librarians will welcome the work as a needed reminder numerous finding aids contained within the system.
of the informational
wealth and
PATRICK J. WILKINSON Documents and Maps Librarian University of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613 USA
Federal Regulatory Directory. 1979/80- . Washington. DC: Congressional Quarterly Inc. Annual. Cover title: Congressional Quarfer[v S Federal Re,qulator.s Direclory. Key title: Federal Regu1ator.v Direcfory. ISSN 0195-749X. Price of 1980-1981 edition: $25.00. ISBN 0-87187-153-X. LC 79-644368. Despite studies undertaken in 1937. 1949. 1955. 1960, 1968, 1972. there are no agreed upon criteria for considering an agency part of the federal government’s regulatory apparatus. While the General Accounting Office cites I I6 agencies engaged in regulation and President Carter acknowledges a figure of 90 in his March 1979 regulatory reform message. Congressional Quarterly’s Directory covers those commissions and offices that satisfy the definition ofa federal regulatory office in a report entitled “Study on Federal Regulation”issued by the Senate Government Operations Committee in January 1977. In that report a federal regulatory office is defined as “one which (I) has decision-making authority. (2) establishes standards or guidelines conferring benefits and imposing restrictions on business conduct, (3) operates principally in the sphere of domestic business activity, (4) has its head and/or members appointed by the president . and (5) has its legal procedures generally governed by the Administrative Procedure Act.” The Federal Regulatory Directory. published by Congressional Quarterly Inc. for the period l980/ 82. is the second annual edition of this guide to regulators, regulations. jurisdiction. and data available to the public. The main body of the Directory is divided into three parts. Part I discusses the growth of regulation. trends toward deregulation, reform of agency procedure, cost/benefit analysis of agency actions and methods used to select regulators. Part 2 profiles I5 of the largest agencies and includes: coverage of the agency’s responsibilities, background. its powers and authority. biographies of commissioners and board members. organization chart and description of functions of numerous positions. information sources. details on public participation, regional offices. a listing of additional references and a glossary of terms pertinent to the agency’s field of regulation. A key feature in this second part is the section entitled “Congress and Legislation” providing information on congressional committees responsible for legislation. oversight. and appropriations and listing the laws administered by the regulatory agency that define its authority, structure, and function. Part 3 profiles other important regulatory agencies, both independent and within executive departments. including summaries of responsibilities. lists of telephone contacts. mformation sources and regional offices. An appendix contains material on the Federal Re,gisrer. the Code yf’ Federal Regularions. the Administrative Procedure Act and its amendments. the Freedom of Information Act. the Privacy Act, and Government in the Sunshine Act. Overall arrangement of the present edition is the same as in the Directory issued for 1979/80. The regulatory agencies represented in Part 2 are identical to those chosen for the previous edition: Civil Aeronautics Board. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Economic Regulatory Administration, Environmental Protection Agency. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Federal Communications Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Federal Reserve System. Federal Trade Commission, Food and Drug Administration. Interstate Commerce Commission. National Labor Relations Board, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Part 3 reveals an increase of almost 50% from 63 to 94 regulatory agencies and offices. A new feature is a section entitled “Regulatory Oversight and Coordination” that briefly examines the authority, structure, and function of the Administrative Conference of the United States, the Consumer Affairs Council, the General Accounting Office. the Interagency Regulatory Liaison Group. the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Regulatory and Information Policy. the Regulatory Analysis Review Group. and the United States Regulatory Council. In both editions an index cross-references subjects. agencies. and personal names in a single alphabetical sequence. Although there is an overall growth of 12% in the si7e of the new edition as against the earlier one. the additions are uneven in the quality of their content. New entries receiving adequate analysis are added for:
Book reviews
261
the National Mediation Board created by a 1934 amendment to the Railway Labor Act; the Postal Rate Commission created by the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970; and the Department of Energy’s Office of Conservation and Solar Energy. The second edition notes that the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration had been merged into the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Assistance, Research and Statistics by the Justice Systems Improvement Act of 1979, but no explanation is offered for dropping the Treasury Department’s Office of Tariff Affairs, which had appeared in the previous edition. The Health and Human Services Department’s Public Health Service, Office of Human Development Services, Health Care Financing Administration, and Child Support Enforcement Administration are among 23 of the new entries covered in 16 pages of text. The new section (“Regulatory Oversight and Coordination”) which purports to examine seven entities involved in oversight of the regulatory process does so in the space of less than five pages. Moreover, the treatment of the Federal Register, the Code of Federal Regulations and the various acts appearing in the appendix is identical in the two editionswhich means that several new finding aids published in the Federal Register are not discussed. Although these limitations do exist the Directory’s willingness to grow and develop into a comprehensive guide to all federal regulatory activities is in evidence with changes and enhancements to existing entries. For information sources greater care is taken to provide listings for both consumer and media information. Biographies of commissioners and board members now include political affiliation, listing as well the nature of appointment, extent of education, profession, and previous career. The sections on publications available from these agencies and the listing of legislation important for an understanding of the office’s authority, structure, and function have been enhanced by additions of retrospective information as well a entries reflecting changes in the past year. Significant improvement is made to the legislation sections for the National Bureau of Standards, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Geological Survey, and the Employment Standards Administration. The present edition’s entry for the Mine Safety and Health Administration adds a section on technical support centers under “Information sources” and also cites the Health and Safety Analysis Center. The unevenness in the quality of the changes is also in evidence in the entry for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; while the second edition expands the list of data centers in the “Information Sources”section, the former listing of “Regional Offices’*is replaced in the current edition with a note that a complete list of regional facilities is included in The NOAA Story, available from NOAA’s Office of Public Affairs. Taken together the two editions of the Directory prove to be an important reference source for those seeking information on the federal government’s regulatory apparatus. The Federal Regulatory Directory also serves as the perfect complement to the Calendar of Federal Regulations issued by the Regulatory Council since February 1979 as a semiannual publication providing a comprehensive catalog of important regulations under development. RICHARD I. KORMAN Specialist in Government Publications Bibliography Serial and Government Publications Division Library of Congress Washington, DC 20540 USA The Fiscal Congress: Legislative Control of the Budget. By Lance T. LeLoup. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. (Contributions in Political Science; no. 47) 227 pp S25.00. ISBN o-313-22009-3. LC 79-6823. The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 radically altered the pace and pattern of budget activity in Congress. The act imposed a strict timetable on budget actions, gave new Budget Committees general oversight and control over budget totals, and created the Congressional Budget Office as an information and research resource for Congress on budget issues. This study of the first five years of congressional budgeting under the 1974 act seeks to determine whether, and how much, the new system enhances Congress’ fiscalpowers. The author, a member of the political science faculty of the University of Missouri at St. Louis, has published several previous works on budget-related problems. After a review of the history of Congressional budget reform, the work of both old and new money committees, and the course of budget politics under the new law, the author concludes that the act’s procedural impact has been substantial and its policy impact slight. That is, the mass of authorization and appropriation legislation is now more coherently integrated and efficiently dispatched than before, but there has not been much discernible change in the structuring of national priorities, levels of federal