Plain English Breakdown
The official text mentions permitting continued development of deference law, but does not specify how this will happen beyond listing factors for reasonableness.
Review of Agency Action Clarification Amendment Act of 2025
This law updates the D.C. Administrative Procedure Act to require courts and review groups to accept a government agency's reasonable explanation when a rule or statute is unclear, as long as that view is not plainly wrong.
What This Bill Does
- Amends Section 110 of the District of Columbia Administrative Procedure Act.
- Requires reviewing tribunals (courts and administrative bodies) to defer to an agency's reasonable interpretation when a statute or rule it administers is silent or ambiguous on a specific issue.
- States that this deference applies only if the agency's view is not plainly wrong or inconsistent with the language of the law, or the intent of the legislature or agency.
- Allows reviewers to consider how long-standing and consistent an interpretation has been when deciding if it is reasonable.
- Permits reviewers to check if the specific issue falls within the agency's area of expertise.
Who It Names or Affects
- Courts and administrative tribunals reviewing orders or decisions made by D.C. agencies.
- District government agencies whose rules, statutes, or interpretations are being reviewed.
- People involved in legal cases challenging an order, decision, rule, or statute from a District agency.
Terms To Know
- Agency deference
- The requirement for courts to accept an expert government agency's interpretation of the laws it enforces when those laws are unclear, provided the view is reasonable and not plainly wrong.
- Reviewing tribunal
- A court or administrative body that examines challenges to an agency's actions, orders, rules, or decisions.
Limits and Unknowns
- The law lists factors reviewers may consider for reasonableness but does not define exactly what counts as a 'reasonable' interpretation.
- This act applies only within the District of Columbia and amends D.C. code, not federal laws outside D.C. jurisdiction.