Admin Law Practice Exam

Formal rulemaking is the process where the agency must hold a trial-like hearing with live testimony, evidentiary procedures, and cross-examination, and the rule is issued only after the decision is based on a on-the-record evidentiary record. This track is triggered when the statute requires an on-the-record hearing or when the agency must develop facts through testimony and documents before issuing the rule. In practice, many rulemakings use informal procedures—notice-and-comment without a formal evidentiary hearing—because the statute does not demand a full on-the-record process. It’s also important to distinguish this from interpretive rules, which are typically not governed by formal rulemaking. And formal rulemaking does not skip or bypass a hearing; the hearing is part of the process.