Administrative Agency

An agency delegated power by Congress, or the appropriate state or local legislature, to act on behalf of the executive branch of a federal, state, or local government. Agencies are formed to further the protection of the public good. Members of an administrative agency consist of specialists in the relevant field. The power allowing the federal government to create agencies rests in the “necessary and proper” clause of Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution: “To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.” In the United States, the first administrative agencies were created in the late 1700s to provide pensions for wounded soldiers and to determine appropriate tariffs on imports. The first permanent administrative agency, the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), was formed in 1887. Agencies may also commonly be referred to as commissions, bureaus, departments, or divisions.