Also known as: enabling statutes · enabling act
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A statute that confers authority upon an administrative agency, board, or other body to carry out specified functions or to promulgate regulations. The statute defines the scope of the body's power by establishing qualifications, procedures, and limits on its actions.
Deborah, a State A citizen, sued Grove Coverage in federal court under diversity jurisdiction after the insurer underpaid interest on her claim. Grove Coverage invoked a State A statute barring class actions for interest recovery. The court applied Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 to decide certification because the federal rule was valid under the enabling statute authorizing procedural rules.
Policyholders in State A brought a diversity class action against an insurer for underpaid interest. A state statute would have barred the class proceeding. The court held that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23 governed because the enabling statute permitted rules addressing practice and procedure without altering substantive rights.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
The President canceled specific spending provisions in an appropriations bill passed by Congress. Recipients of the canceled funds challenged the action. The court ruled the cancellations invalid because the enabling statute did not authorize unilateral modification of enacted legislation.
An employer challenged an agency rule requiring coverage for pregnancy-related disabilities. The court examined the enabling statute authorizing the agency to issue employment regulations. It concluded the rule exceeded the statute's grant because the statute did not address that subject.
A worker sought review of an agency order denying compensation. The agency claimed broad fact-finding power under its enabling statute. The court held that the statute confined the agency's role to advisory findings on certain issues while reserving final adjudication to the courts.
A state legislature enacted an enabling statute granting local governments authority to adopt antidiscrimination ordinances. Voters later approved a constitutional amendment barring such local protections. The court held the amendment invalid as an improper restriction on the power granted by the enabling statute.
It grants the agency its operating authority and sets the boundaries of that authority. The statute typically specifies qualifications for licensure, grounds for discipline, available penalties, and basic procedures the agency must follow.
Supporting sources
No. The agency's authority is strictly confined to what the enabling statute describes. Actions outside that grant, such as relying on unlisted grounds for discipline, are invalid.
Supporting sources
It authorizes the Supreme Court to promulgate rules of practice and procedure for the federal courts while prohibiting rules that abridge, enlarge, or modify substantive rights.
…in the Constitutions of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Utah, as a condition of their admission to statehood. See Arizona Enabling Act, 36 Stat. 569; New Mexico Enabling Act, 36 Stat. 558; Oklahoma Enabling Act, 34 Stat. 269; Utah Enabling Act, 28 Stat. 108. (For Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, moreover, the Enabling Acts…