by Warren Belmar

It is a great honor to serve as Chair of the Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice and to follow in the footsteps of so many outstanding people who have held this position and contributed so much to its rich history. It is my intention to build upon that foundation by encouraging the greatest involvement possible by the membership of the Section -- private practitioners, academics, executive, congressional and judicial branch officials, law students and others -- and to attract new members to share with us the benefits that flow from participation in our professional and social activities.

In that spirit, I hope that many of you will attend our Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C. It starts with a Section dinner on October 16, 1997, honoring former Assistant Attorneys General of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice. Reflective of the long-standing relationship of the Section with the Office of Legal Counsel, I am pleased to advise that among those already accepting our invitation to the Thursday evening dinner are Chief Justice Rehnquist, Justice Scalia (a former Section chair), Attorney General Barr, Circuit Judge Luttig, and the most recent head of that office, Walter Dellinger. The dinner will be followed on Friday, October 17, by three CLE programs on cutting-edge issues, our annual awards luncheon, and a reception hosted by the Washington College of Law at American University. We will conclude on Saturday morning, October 18, with the meeting of our Council.

As part of the Section's annual update on administrative law developments, and in order to keep you advised of significant proposed amendments to the Administrative Procedure Act, one of our CLE programs on Friday morning, October 17, will analyze S. 981, the proposed "Regulatory Improvement Act of 1997." This bill, which enjoys the bipartisan support and cosponsorship of Senators Levin, Thompson, Glenn, Abraham, Robb, Roth, Rockefeller and Stevens, will be discussed by two senior staff members of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs and a representative from our Rulemaking Committee. Among the provisions they will discuss are:

1. The regulatory analysis requirements for major rules (costing over $100 million or deemed by OMB to have a significant impact on the economy), including preparation of cost budget analyses and costs budget determinations;

2. The risk assessment principles to be applied in the regulatory analysis for major rules having a primary purpose of addressing health, safety, or environmental risks;

3. The provisions relating to peer review for risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses;

4. The limitations on judicial review of cost-benefit analyses and risk assessment;

5. The requirements concerning development of broad guidelines for risk assessments and cost-benefit analyses, including the completion of a comparative risk analysis study;

6. The requirement for agency review of outstanding major rules recommended for review by a balanced advisory committee, followed by agency development of a schedule of rules to be reviewed every five years; and

7. The codification of the executive branch regulatory review process, including establishment of the responsibilities and authority of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs ("OIRA)".

This program is particularly timely as our Section has the responsibility for the development and presentation of the ABA's position on all of the regulatory reform proposals pending before the Congress. As many of you will recall, former Section Chair Philip Harter did an outstanding job in managing this effort for the Section in the last Congress. He, along with an ad hoc committee consisting of Professors Ron Levin, Sidney Shapiro and Peter Strauss, Chair-Elect Ron Cass, Vice Chair Jack Young, Council member Dan Troy and others, are already developing the Section's position on various issues.

Those attending the Fall Meeting will also have the opportunity to attend two other CLE programs. At the first program on Friday morning we will have a distinguished group of speakers from within our Section who will review significant judicial developments in the areas of judicial review, rulemaking, adjudication, and separation of powers. In the afternoon, our program will be on the topic of "Reinventing Campaign Finance." It will bring together leading experts in the field to discuss structural problems of campaign finance, the First Amendment requirements that govern reform, and practical solutions to campaign finance reform. Because of the quality and timeliness of this program, discussions are underway for its possible coverage by CNN or C-Span.

Finally, you should know that the Council, at its meeting during the ABA Annual Meeting in San Francisco, finalized significant changes to our committee structure and Council membership. These were designed to increase member participation, to have our committees more closely parallel the departments and agencies with which they interact, and to expand the expertise of our Council. The reorganization of our committee structure, combined with the appointment to committee leadership positions of individuals seeking to become more active in committee activities, has already shown positive results. Likewise, the expanded membership of our Council to include representatives for state administrative law, the executive branch, the legislative branch, the judiciary and the administrative judiciary can only further enhance the quality of our discussions of the issues which come before the Council.

I look forward to hearing your ideas and suggestions over the course of the year, and hope that we will have an opportunity to visit at the Fall Meeting or the Council meetings to be held in Nashville, Phoenix, and Toronto.