In the United States, how does a regulatory government agency get created and from where does its ability to impose rules and assess fines come?

Question

I’m trying to start from the baseline of the U.S. Constitution and work my way out into how a regulatory agency gets its power and authority under the law. Thank you!

In: 1

Answer 1

Regulatory agencies are created by laws passed by Congress. The agency’s abilities to do various things, including imposing rules and fines, come directly from the laws that Congress passed creating that agency. Congress says “We are passing this law to create this agency. Here are this agencies goals and here are the powers we are giving this agency to achieve those goals.” All government agencies also have to follow another set of laws called the Administrative Procedures Act which sets baseline rules for how all regulatory agencies have to operate.