George Mason University School of Law Legal Practicum Regulatory Comments LAW 300-001 Spring Term 2013, Tuesdays 6:00-7:50 PM Course Syllabus Professors: Jerry Brito Bridget C.E. Dooling 202-527-9487 202-395-5870 gbrito@gmu.edu bdooling@gmu.edu Office hours by appointment. Summary: Students engage in the federal regulatory process by analyzing proposed regulations from the public interest perspective and filing public comments with federal agencies that reflects their findings and views. The course combines practical lectures on the regulatory process with workshops on how to analyze regulations and effectively communicate ideas to different audiences (e.g., government agencies, the public, and Congress). Students will present their analysis through a mock hearing and op-ed, as well as a public comment. Grading: Grades for the course will be based on performance on an oral testimony (15%), op-ed (5% for the draft + 10% for the final version = 15%), and public comment (10% for the draft + 40% for the final version = 50%), as well as participation in class (including ability to discuss the readings and listenings) and group activities (20%). This is a writing course. Readings are listed below, but a few more not listed might be assigned via e-mail. Required texts Government s End by Jonathan Rauch, available in paperback. Primer on Regulation by Susan E. Dudley & Jerry Brito, available free online or paperback at Amazon.com.
Jan. 8 Introduction, aims and scope of the course, grading and policies. What is the public interest? Jonathan Rauch, Government s End, Ch. 1. Available at: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/537972/rauch.pdf Susan E. Dudley & Jerry Brito, Primer on Regulation, Ch. 1. Available at: http://mercatus.org/publication/regulation-primer Michael K. Powell, The Public Interest Standards: A New Regulator s Search for Enlightenment. Available at: http://bit.ly/sgdfyg Jan. 15 What is rulemaking? The regulatory process. Curtis Copeland, The Federal Rulemaking Process: An Overview, CRS Report for Congress No. RL32240 (Feb. 22, 2011). Pages: 1-17, 26-29. Available at: http://bit.ly/xe1wvb Dudley & Brito, Ch. 4. Rauch, Ch. 2. Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 551, 553 (definitions, rulemaking). Jan. 22 Why should we regulate and why do we regulate? Theories of regulation. Guest Speaker: Eli Dourado, Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at GMU. Dudley & Brito Ch. 2. Clifford Winston, Government Failure vs. Market Failure, Ch. 1. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/yb26xgq Robert Cooter & Thomas Ulen, Law & Economics, General Equilibrium and Welfare Economics. Available at: http://bit.ly/w0jb9s Jan. 29 Analysis of economic regulation Guest Speaker (invited): Dr. Jerry Ellig, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center. Dudley & Brito, Ch. 6. Jerry Brito & Jerry Ellig, Video Killed the Franchise Star: The Consumer Cost of Cable Franchising and Policy Alternatives, 5 J. Telecomm. & High Tech. Law 199 (2006). Available at: http://bit.ly/xkcf6h Summaries of the FCC final order on cable franchising. Available at: http://bit.ly/wwtd9l & http://bit.ly/x7scg6 Assignment: By today you should have selected the regulation about which you will write a comment.
Feb. 5 What is Executive Order 12866? What is OIRA? Guest Speaker (invited): Susan Dudley, Director, Regulatory Studies Center, GWU & Former Administrator of OIRA. Dudley & Brito, Ch. 8. Susan Dudley, Lessons Learned, Challenges Ahead, Regulation (Summer 2009). Available at: http://bit.ly/wte5eh Executive Order 12866 (skim). Available at: http://bit.ly/z7pbj3 OMB Circular A-4 (skim). Available at: http://bit.ly/gwzeuu OMB/OIRA Circular A-4 Checklist (skim). Available at: http://bit.ly/wajp7e Assignment: Before class today, email Professors a memo explaining your selected regulation. Professors will provide feedback by the following class. Feb. 12 Analysis of social regulation Guest Speaker: Heidi King, Chief Economist, Energy and Commerce Committee, U.S. House of Representatives & Former Policy Analyst, OIRA. Reading & podcast: Listen to interview with Sam Peltzman on Econtalk. Available at: http://tinyurl.com/y9m68x4 Dudley & Brito, Ch. 7. Feb. 19 Public choice and rent seeking Guest Speaker: Matt Mitchell, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center Rauch, Chs. 3 & 5. J. Patrick Gunning, Understanding Democracy, Ch. 16 Rent Seeking, Available at: http://bit.ly/rpciuj Gordon Tullock, Rent Seeking, in Lexeconics (1981). Available at http://bit.ly/ahdkjk Bruce Yandle, Bootleggers and Baptists -- The Education of a Regulatory Economist, Regulation (1983). Available at: http://bit.ly/xkwl7s Bruce Yandle, Bootleggers and Baptists in Retrospect, Regulation (Summer 1999). Available at: http://bit.ly/zprqyw Feb. 26 Elements of a public interest comment / Workshop: Student projects Reading: Jerry Brito & Jerry Ellig, Public Interest Comment on Video Franchising, submitted to the FCC, February 13, 2006. (Don t read for the content;; skim it. Read for the structure and to see how the arguments are laid out and how the regulation is analyzed.) Available at: http://bit.ly/wwl67a Assignment: Come prepared to discuss your regulation and your comment with the
Mar. 5 class. In class, please sign up for individual meetings for the week of March 28. Communicating complex ideas: Giving live testimony, writing an op-ed, and turning your comment into a law review article Guest Speakers: Eileen Norcross, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, and Leigh Harrington, Director of Media Relations, Mercatus Center. William Zinsser, On Writing Well, pages 3 46. Available at: http://bit.ly/zwlqm4 Eileen Norcross, Testifying Before Congress. Available at: http://bit.ly/zudbmf Read the Washington Post's op-ed page for the week leading up to this class. Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. Legal Educ. 247 (1998). Mar. 12 Mar. 19 No Class -- Spring Break Behavioral Economics Steve Lohr, NY Times, The Default Choice, So Hard to Resist, Available at: http://nyti.ms/okmjtw Richard H. Thaler & Cass R. Sunstein, Libertarian Paternalism, American Economic Review (2003). Available at: http://bit.ly/zeqipt Will Wilkinson, Why Opting Out Is No Third Way, Reason (Sept. 2008). Available at: http://bit.ly/xrmzeu Slavisa Tasic, Are regulators rational? Available at: http://bit.ly/wywohn Assignment: Email your draft comment to Professors before class today. Drafts will be discussed in individual meetings next week. Mar. 26 Apr. 2 No Class -- Meet Individually with Professors Midnight Regulations;; Judicial, Legislative, and Executive Review of Final Regulations Jerry Brito & Veronique DeRugy, Midnight Regulations and Regulatory Review, 61 Admin. L.R. 163 (2009). House Judiciary Committee Hearing Report, Midnight Rulemaking -- Shedding Some Light, Testimony of GW Professor Michael Abramowicz (including Q&A), pages 240-46, 265-67 (PDF pagination) (Feb. 4, 2009). Available at: http://bit.ly/xreivv OMB Watch, Midnight Regulations Roundup: http://www.ombwatch.org/node/9739 Assignment: Email your draft op-ed to Professors before class today. Professors
will provide feedback on your draft by the following class. Apr. 9 Apr. 16 May 10 Current Topics in Regulatory Policy: TBD Mock Testimony (at GMUSL, room TBD) Comment & Op-Ed Due -- email Professors by 11:59pm