The Federal and Regulatory Process

The Federal Government Operates in Three Basic Ways:

• Statutory Authority: Passed by Congress through the legislative process and signed into law by the President. Once it has been signed it becomes known as a public law and is assigned a PL number.
• Regulatory Authority: Rules and Regulations promulgated by the Federal agencies with responsibility for programmatic design and oversight. The agency is assigned the authority for implementation in statute and the regulations must be based on statutory authority.
• Federal Funding: Decisions made by Congress in the annual Budget and Appropriations process.

Glossary of Legislative Terms:

Act: The term for legislation that has been passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. The new public law (PL-107-22) is assigned a number that includes the Congress in which the bill was passed (107) and the specific number assigned based on the sequential order that the bill was signed into law (22).

Amendment: The proposal of a Member of Congress to alter the wording of a bill being considered by a subcommittee, committee, or full House or Senate. Amendments can be offered to add or delete entire sections of a bill or to replace the entire bill with new language.

Authorization: A law creating a new Federal program or extending the life of an existing program (re-authorization). An authorization establishes the framework for the implementation of the Federal program and usually sets a maximum amount that can be spent on a program each year for a set period of time (usually 3 – 5 years). An authorization must be passed before the program can be funded by the appropriators. E.G. Title I of the Rehabilitation Act authorizes funds to be spent on the State Vocational Rehabilitation each year.

Appropriation: Legislation directing the spending of funds from the Federal treasury for a specifically authorized discretionary program. By custom, appropriations bills originate in the House. Technically, a program must be authorized before it can be appropriated, although the appropriators have been known to violate this rule and provide funding for new programs that have not been authorized.

Bill: Proposed law or appropriation introduced by a Member of Congress and assigned a number according to the sequence in the Congress that it is introduced. (eg, H.R 122)

Conference: A meeting between House and Senate to reconcile differences between bills passed by the respective bodies. Once compromise has been reached a Conference Report is filed and voted on by the full House and Senate. The successful measure is then sent to the President for approval.