The Department of Justice is not a major regulatory agency, and it carries out its vital investigative, prosecutorial, and other law enforcement activities principally through means other than the regulatory process. Even so, the Department does have significant responsibilities for implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), as well as the immigration laws, including the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and the Immigration Act of 1990. The Department's key regulatory goals and initiatives are set forth in detail below.
The Department has worked actively to implement the general regulatory principles of Executive Order 12866. Relatively few of the Department's rules are significant regulatory actions requiring review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under the Executive order. Accordingly, the orientation of the OMB review process to focus on significant rules has required the Department to increase its own efforts to ensure that all of its regulations are carefully reviewed for consistency with the Administration's regulatory principles, including the large majority of rules that are not reviewed directly by OMB as significant regulatory actions.
Pursuant to section 4(c) of Executive Order 12866, the Department of Justice provides the following statement of regulatory priorities, focusing in particular on four regulatory initiatives in the areas of civil rights and immigration.
In addition to the specific initiatives set forth below, several other components of the Department carry out important responsibilities through the regulatory process. Although their regulatory efforts are not singled out for specific attention in this regulatory plan, those components carry out key roles in implementing the Department's law enforcement priorities. In particular, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is responsible for controlling abuse of narcotics and dangerous drugs by restricting the aggregate supply of those drugs. DEA accomplishes its objectives through coordination with State, local, and other Federal officials in drug enforcement activities, development and maintenance of drug intelligence systems, regulation of legitimate controlled substances, and enforcement coordination and intelligence-gathering activities with foreign government agencies. DEA has various regulatory actions under development relating to the diversion control requirements and to the requirements of the Comprehensive Methamphetamine Control Act of 1996 which regulates certain drug products that are being diverted for the production of methamphetamine.
Also, on March 20, 1997, the Federal Bureau of Investigation promulgated final cost recovery regulations under the Communications Assistance to Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA). Congress enacted CALEA to address the recent and continuing advances in telecommunications technology, which have impaired and, in some instances, precluded law enforcement agencies from fully conducting various types of court-authorized electronic surveillance. The Attorney General is authorized to reimburse carriers for all of the reasonable costs directly associated with the modifications they perform on equipment, facilities, and services deployed on or before January 1, 1995. These regulations provide the cost accounting standards for reimbursements.
In response to public comments during the cost recovery rulemaking, the FBI has published on April 20, 1998, a proposed rule defining the terms ``significant upgrade'' and ``major modification.'' The FBI is considering the comments it has received and anticipates publishing a final rule in the first calendar quarter of 1999. On March 12, 1998, the FBI, on behalf of law enforcement, published a final Notice of Capacity (following two previously published notices on the same subject) informing telecommunications carriers offering local exchange services and certain commercial mobile radio services (specifically cellular service and broadband PCS) of the estimated actual and maximum number of simultaneous interceptions that law enforcement might conduct on or after specified dates. Later this year, the FBI will publish a Notice of Inquiry (NOI) soliciting information and suggestions from interested parties for developing reasonable methodologies for characterizing the capacity requirements for telecommunications services other than those covered by the March 12, 1998, final notice. Comments received on this NOI will assist the FBI in developing future Notice(s) of Capacity requirements for these other services, as the FBI is obligated to do by CALEA.
Civil Rights
The Department and its Civil Rights Division are deeply committed to a rigorous and revitalized approach to the enforcement of this Nation's civil rights laws. In keeping with that commitment, the Division will be reviewing, updating, and improving its civil rights regulations; implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA); and promulgating regulations implementing the prohibition against sex discrimination in federally assisted education programs and activities that is contained in title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Department's regulatory plan has two civil rights initiatives.
The Department is planning to make revisions in its regulations implementing titles II and III of the ADA to amend the ADA Standards for Accessible Design to be consistent with the revised accessibility guidelines for State and local facilities and children's facilities that have been developed by the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board) and to make conforming changes in the Department's rules. Title II of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by public entities and title III prohibits such discrimination by places of public accommodation and requires accessible design and construction of places of public accommodation and commercial facilities. The Access Board's new accessibility guidelines for State and local facilities and children's facilities are the subject of related, pending rulemakings that are expected to be completed during fiscal year 1999. These rulemakings have been the subject of considerable scrutiny through the Board's regulatory process. The Department of Justice, which is required by statute to promulgate standards that are consistent with the guidelines developed by the Access Board, has proposed to incorporate them in the Department's regulations.
These amendments to the ADA regulations are an important step forward in fulfilling the promise of the ADA in ushering in a new era of opportunity and dignity for the many millions of Americans with disabilities. These regulations will open doors that have shut out people with disabilities in the past.
In addition, the Department will be promulgating regulations implementing the prohibition against sex discrimination in federally assisted education programs and activities that is contained in title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Department will be issuing this regulation as part of a joint rulemaking by several Federal agencies in the coming year.
The Department's promulgation of a regulation implementing title IX will provide guidance to its recipients who administer education programs or activities. Since all departments and agencies should interpret title IX consistently, it is important that they all be governed by similar regulatory standards. The Department's regulation will closely follow that of the Department of Education, which funds most educational institutions covered by title IX. A regulation is essential for adequate enforcement of title IX because a regulation contains administrative requirements (such as promulgation of grievance procedures, designation of a coordinator, and processing of complaints), as well as essential statutory interpretations.
Immigration
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is responsible for facilitating the entry of persons legally admissible as visitors or as immigrants to the United States, for preventing unlawful entry or receipt of immigration benefits by those who are not entitled to receive them, and for apprehending or removing those aliens who enter or remain illegally in the United States. Though many of the Administration's goals for more effective immigration process flow from either new statutory authority or increased resources, the regulatory process is a vital aspect of carrying out the goals of the immigration laws.
Certainly, one of the regulatory challenges facing the Department of Justice is to improve the effectiveness of those regulatory efforts. Commissioner Meissner established three fundamental goals at the time of her confirmation: To increase the professionalism of the Service, to provide immigration control with compassion, and to build the Service's role in immigration policy leadership and communication. The regulatory priorities for the Service follow those priorities, though other desired improvements may require legislative action. Two INS initiatives are included in this regulatory plan.
First, the Service will publish a proposed rule to implement the new grounds of inadmissibility and their waivers, especially those established under the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA). This regulation will clarify the interplay between the new grounds of inadmissibility and existing law and will set forth changes in procedures and policies. Second is the Service's ongoing effort to facilitate the U.S. business community's ability to comply with the employer sanctions provisions of the Immigration Control and Reform Act.
The Service anticipates additional progress in its efforts to simplify the employers' compliance with employment verification (Form I-9) requirements of the Act. The Service published a proposed rule on February 2, 1998. This proposal reflected numerous changes stemming from IIRIRA and from a comprehensive review of the 10-year-old verification regulations, as required by the Regulatory Flexibility Act. The result was a comprehensive overhaul of the regulations. The Service adopted a ``plain language'' approach and simplified the structure of the regulation. Both steps were well received by the public. In addition, the list of documents acceptable for employment verification was shortened, and several other requirements were clarified. The Service received thoughtful comments from the public on the proposal. Those are now being reviewed, and the Service anticipates publishing a final rule during the coming fiscal year.