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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    5

    Default How to Convince a Government Agency to Change Regulations Interpreting Federal Law

    There is a law call the McKinney–Vento Homeless Assistance Act of 1987 (Pub. L. 100-77, July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 482, 42 U.S.C. § 11301 et seq.). When the CFR sections were compiled there are several things that seem to miss the mark and don't implement the spirit let alone the letter of the law. (...Act of 1987... it only took to 2011 to define what homeless means and publish the final rule.).

    This law has to do with granting surplus property to non-profits to benefit the homeless.

    To me and my reading of the law, taking a surplus 10 acres and building affordable housing or supportive services would help the homeless, but this is too far outside the box for HHS, HUD and the GSA.

    In another instance, a base golf course was deemed surplus, but since it was on a "secured" base, it was deems a secure area, and there were no alternative means of providing access. However, if you looked at the map of the base, the golf course was located on the edge of the base, and a simple lot line adjustment would have solved the problem.

    I don't know if I will ever get the fortitude to do anything, but I am curious about the process, so there has been some scrutiny expended to look under the covers.

    The GAO has published several report on the law and it's implementation. It my understand that the GAO works at the behest

    Thanks.

    p.s.

    I called a beltway law firm that said, send them 50K and they'll figure it out.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Posts
    8,238

    Default Re: How Do I Appeal to the Govt That Their Regulation Don' Fit the Spirit of the Law

    Part of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11411, has a program to identify surplus federal property that might be made available to federal, state, or local government agencies, or to nonprofit organizations, to help address the homeless problem in the U.S. This section simply requires that agencies identify potential surplus property that might be used for the homeless so that the federal government can coordinate a list of such property and publicize it to get proposals from agencies on the use of the property for the homeless. If they get proper proposals, the property will be used for helping the homeless before going to some other use. The statute is not at all specific on the criteria that the agencies are to use in identifying the property that would be eligible for this program, which is where the agency regulations come in.

    There are two problems in trying to challenge those regulations. First, in order to challenge them, one must have standing. This is a legal requirement to litigate any case in federal court, and very generally it requires that the person bringing the lawsuit must have a personal interest in the outcome, i.e. that a court decision in his favor would result in the court granting him some kind of relief. The problem is this program does not give any rights to any individual homeless persons and they would lack standing to bring an action to try to compel the government to make certain property available for this program.

    Second, the courts generally defer to an agency’s interpretation of a statute in its regulations unless the regulation is clearly at odds with the text of the statute. Given that the statute here doesn’t provide any guidance on the standard to be used, it would be extremely difficult to successfully argue that the regulations are in conflict with the statute.

    Maybe some DC area law firm that has extensive experience challenging agency regulations might find some foothold on which to make an effort to challenge it. It would not, however be cheap to launch that sort of fight.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: How Do I Appeal to the Govt That Their Regulation Don' Fit the Spirit of the Law

    Quote Quoting cjmazur
    View Post

    I called a beltway law firm that said, send them 50K and they'll figure it out.
    The alternative to litigation is to elect politicians who are willing to change the law.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Posts
    5

    Default Re: How Do I Appeal to the Govt That Their Regulation Don' Fit the Spirit of the Law

    and the litigation route would be to sue the agencies that administer the law?

    Is "government litigator" a law specialty out there? What would this specialist be called??

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