Administrative Conference of the United States: Oversight Hearing on ACUS

Last Thursday, May 20, the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law held an oversight hearing on ACUS. The two panels of witnesses included Justices Breyer and Scalia, as well as two former Admin Law Section Chairs (Paul Verkuil, the new ACUS Chairman, and Sally Katzen of the Podesta Group), Jeffrey Lubbers of American University's Washington College of Law, and Curtis Copeland of the Congressional Research Service. Copies of the witnesses' prepared statements are available on the Committee's website. In addition, Thomas Susman, Director of the ABA Governmental Affairs Office, submitted for the record a letter expressing support for ACUS and attaching an August 2009 list of recommended study topics for ACUS.

Education: New York City Municipal Regulation on Sale of Home-Baked Goods

On February 25, 2010, the New York City Department of Education (DOE) issued Regulation A-812 "to provide additional flexibility for fundraising while conforming to the Department of Education’s Wellness Policy and initiatives to improve the quality and nutritional value of foods and beverages that are available for children." In brief, Regulation A-812 allows New York City public school students to sell any “approved“ items (from a DOE list) any time during the day in the chool "as long as the sale of the approved food items occurs outside of the school cafeteria." Homemade food items, however, are not "approved" items. PTAs are permitted to hold monthly fundraisers with non-approved food items during the day "as long as the sale of the non-approved food items occurs outside the cafeteria" and complies with other specified DOE Regulations.

In response, as a New Yorker article entitled "Free Betty Crocker!" recently reported, a few hundred parents and children held a protest in downtown Manhattan to protest the bake-sale ban. This protest, however, appears to be just one of a series of actions reflecting popular unrest that was first triggered by the 2009 version of Regulation A-812, which included an outright ban on bake sales. Those actions included the establishment of a Facebook page, student petitions, and resolutions by community boards and a local school council. So far, this resistance by parents and children has not crumbled.

Administrative Conference of the United States: Posted Openings

The Administrative Conference of the United States has two senior-level vacancies for which it has posted announcements on USAJobs: Administrative Officer (GS-14) and Public Affairs Specialist (Communications Director) (GS-15). Both positions are full-time career/career-conditional appointments. The closing date for both postings is Monday, May 17, 2010.