Hidden Politics? Assessing Lobbying Success During US Agency Guidance Development

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Yackee, Susan Webb
• 署名单位: University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1053-1858
• DOI: 10.1093/jopart/muaa009
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 548-562
• 关键词: policy-making; rulemaking; PARTICIPATION; Oversight; ADVOCACY; rules

摘要

I test the proposition that interest groups achieve greater policy success when they lobby during the agency guidance document development process as opposed to the notice and comment process. Policymaking via guidance documents often receives lower levels of public attention, which provides greater flexibility to accommodate lobbying requests. I analyze the hypothesis during the creation of 41 rules by one US government agency-20 of which were promulgated using the notice and comment process and 21 via the guidance document process. I measure regulatory policy change using a content analysis of government documents and lobbying texts, and I also incorporate a telephone survey of interest groups who lobbied on these same rules. I find that interest groups perceive-and achieve-greater policy success when lobbying during the agency guidance process. The results yield new insights into the relationship between lobbying and regulatory policymaking.