ACUS Adopts Four Recommendations to Improve Efficiency, Fairness, Transparency, and Public Participation in Government Programs

Washington, D.C., January 21, 2026 - At its 84th Plenary Session on January 21, the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS) adopted four recommendations to improve the efficiency, transparency, and fairness of administrative programs; reduce their costs to taxpayers; and enhance the public's ability to participate in them.

The ACUS Assembly adopted the following four recommendations:

Recommendation 2026-1: Obtaining Government Records for Use in Agency Proceedings. This recommendation provides agencies with best practices for making federal government records available for use in agency proceedings. It provides guidance on procedures for ensuring that government officials and private parties have access to the records they need to participate effectively in agency proceedings and decide matters fairly, accurately, and efficiently. Additional information is available here.

Recommendation 2026-2: Temporary Rules. This recommendation identifies best practices for temporary rules. Temporary rules cease to be effective after a specific calendar date or upon the occurrence of a future event unless an agency takes action to extend the rule, make it permanent, or repeal it. The recommendation provides guidance to agencies on determining whether to issue a temporary rule, drafting and publishing temporary rules, conducting timely assessments of temporary rules and taking appropriate action, and developing internal procedures for temporary rules. It also recommends that Congress consider how specific agencies might use temporary rules to respond efficiently and effectively to emergencies. Additional information is available here.

Recommendation 2026-3: Organization, Management, and Operation of Agency Adjudication Offices. This recommendation provides agencies with best practices for organizing, managing, and operating agency adjudication offices. It encourages agencies to collect, analyze, and use data to identify and adopt the organizational, management, and operational practices that are best suited to each agency's unique circumstances and most effective in promoting fairness, accuracy, consistency, efficiency, and timeliness in the adjudications they conduct. Additional information is available here.

Recommendation 2026-4: Federal Agency Collaboration with State, Tribal, Local, and Territorial Governments. This recommendation provides agencies with a framework that federal agencies should use to identify and collaborate more effectively with relevant state, tribal, local, and territorial governments (STLTGs). It provides guidance on practices agencies can adopt when initiating, managing, and evaluating collaborations with STLTGs that promote a culture of improved coordination and strengthen working relationships between governments. Additional information is available here.

About ACUS

The Administrative Conference of the United States is an independent, non-partisan federal agency within the executive branch dedicated to improving administrative law and federal regulatory processes. It conducts applied research, and provides expert recommendations and other advice, to improve federal agency procedures. Its membership is composed of senior federal officials, academics, and other experts from the private sector. Since 1968, ACUS has issued hundreds of recommendations, published reports and reference guides, and organized forums to improve the efficiency, adequacy, and fairness of administrative processes such as rulemaking and adjudication. Many have resulted in reforms by federal agencies, the President, Congress, and the Judicial Conference of the United States. Learn more at www.acus.gov.

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