Introduction
An independent agency is formed to cater for functions that are not handled by the federal executive departments. In this regard, an independent agency is outside the direct influence of the president. The passing of law by the congress facilitates the creation of independent federal agency and lays down the structure under which the agency it proposes to create will operate. The agency has the ability to draft rules concerning the specific task it covers, which have the support of the constitution.
Collegiate bodies such as a board or commission handle the running of independent agencies. The president with the approval of the congress chooses the members of the collegiate body. In sharp contrast, however, a single director chosen by the president runs executive agencies. In the case of executive agencies, the president holds autonomous discretion over the firing and hiring of executive agencies heads.
Law that establishes its authorities and responsibility creates the independent agency; this law is the organic statute meaning a law that governs a governmental organization. An example of an organic statute is the CIA act of 1949 also called the public law 110, which created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Question 1
The identity of the agency proposed is the welfare independent agency (WIA). The agency will be involved in actions of providing general welfare to the under privileged and deserving individuals within society. Welfare functions the agency will partake in include, the evaluation of situations of dire need of basic social amenities such as food and clothing, sourcing funding for the provision of welfare services to the citizens, allocation of welfare resources.
The infrastructure of the agency
- The agency shall be equipped with modern relief call centers where individuals in need of welfare services shall congregate and seek services. These centers will be spread across the states and shall be open on all working days.
- The agency shall have an elaborate logistics fleet utilized in the transportation of relief consumables.
- The agency shall be allowed other government agencies resources on as per need basis such as data on income and population distribution figures.
The Welfare Independent Agency (WIA) organic statute
Article 1
Welfare Independent Agency (WIA) is a not for profit agency regulated by the welfare independent statute in accordance to constitutional provisions to provide relief welfare services
Article 2
The agency has its head quarters in the state of New York, New York City with a permanent residence there
Article 3
The agency shall pursue the following functions and purposes,
Purpose of the agency
- Map out areas in dire need of additional support in order to achieve decent basic life functions such as having meals and having a safe place to sleep.
- Identify the causes of prevalence, in specific areas, of welfare support and propose the ways utilizable to change the situation
- Acquire and distribute welfare resources such as foodstuff, house utilities such as toileting products, shelter and clothing.
- Sensitize the people on the need to reduce wastage and donate excess foodstuffs and clothing to the less privileged in order to aid in alleviating the pressure on welfare service.
- Identify and source funding for its activities such as through conducting fundraising drives and indulging corporate as part of their social responsibility initiatives
Article 4
The agency shall obtain most of its funding from the government. The funding is annual following the government budgetary cycle. After a careful study of the prevailing economic situation and using data from other agencies such as the rate of employment, the agency shall project the expected number of individuals who might be in need of welfare, draw up a budget and submit it to the national government for approval. Monies raised by the agency’s own initiative cover the deficit of the proposed budget.
The following organs shall constitute the agency.
- The citizen relief team – This organ is to handle the disbursement of relief to the citizenry in need of welfare services. The documentations and information interpretation is to be handled by them. Patterns and forecasts drawn are reported to the federal government for remedial action to take place.
- The resource team – this organ is to handle all resources either incoming or outgoing. Keep an accurate and up to date financial report regarding the resources handled in order to aid auditing. Sourcing of funding and other resources is to be handled by this organ.
Question 2
The agency proposes the rule that ‘all corporate entities in operating in the united states be required to submit, together with their tax returns, an audited and verified report detailing the social responsibility activities they engage in each fiscal year’ the rule is to be formulated using the informal rule making process through the following stages
- The publication of notice of rule is done in the federal register. The public and other interested parties are now free to scrutinize the rule and familiarize themselves with it.
- The parties are afforded the chance to participate in the rule making and propose changes if applicable/relevant.
- The agency will then consider the parties feedback and ways on which to incorporate them into the rule, if relevant
- The agency then publishes the rule with a two months lead-time to its effective date. The lead-time allowed gives the affected parties ample time to adjust to the recommendations proposed in the rule. A statement will accompany publication of the rule on the benefits the society stood to enjoy by the participation of firms in social responsibility activities. The statement will detail how activities such as corporate donating some of their super natural profits to the agency or other humanitarian initiatives would go a long way in reducing instances of people lacking basic essentials of life.
Question 3
- The implementation of this rule intends to increase the number of corporations willing to give back to the society that it makes its profits. Ethics and goodwill alone have failed to convince most corporations of their obligation to help those not privileged enough bearing in mind that they expressly contribute to the problem by downsizing labor.
- The issue of corporation’s involvement in their social responsibilities has no grounding in any statute. Corporations were expected to voluntarily involve in social responsibility activities which has not proven to be adequate enough thus necessitating the need of this rule
- Corporations on their own and without any external pressure can easily implement corporate responsibility. There are good examples of companies with an excellent record of social responsibility sense such as, ‘the Unilever success story’.
- A hungry or destitute person is the most vulnerable of persons capable of going to great lengths to obtain that basic and important resource of food or shelter. These people need support while strategies are worked to accommodate them in self sustaining positions
- The regulation requires virtually no resources to implement with the only effort being awareness drives to corporations and penalties/ consequences of not abiding by it.
- It is hard to estimate the costs of people suffering and in lack of basic items such as food by no fault of their own. The rule meets all standards on cost to society to warrant its implementation.
- Research shows that while most Americans are fairly well off and can afford to put meals on the table(with the number of obesity cases rising), a number of Americans especially in poor neighborhoods can barely afford a meal thus necessitating the need for this rule.
- This rule gives the government, the agency, and general public to either instigate sanctions(government), institute legal processes(the agency) or shun the corporations (public) that don’t comply with the rule in retaliation.
- After consultation with the federal and state governments, the law was found to be in no contravention with either the federal or any of the state laws.
- There are no agencies or departments known to be actively involved handling welfare activities in a comprehensive manner including funding research and distribution thus necessitating the need for this agency.
- The cumulative cost of implementation is fair considering the benefits sought by its implementation.
- The rule is in plain text English without a lot of legal complex jargon and as such is understandable to a majority of the people who read it.
References
Kansas (1868). The general statutes of the state of Kansas, to which the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Kansas, together with the organic act of the Territory of Kansas, the treaty ceding the Territory of Louisiana to the United States, and the Act admitting Kansas into the Union are prefixed. Lawrence: Printed by J. Speer, public printer.
Vanhorenbeck, S., & Library of Congress (1996). Appropriations for FY1996: VA, HUD, and independent agencies. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
