Successful administration of a wide range of issues demands the ability of persons who have a good deal of experience and training. Public employees provide the necessary expertise to regulate these areas. DCRA meets the need for flexibility to deal with emergency situations quickly. Since the Legislature cannot be in session during every crisis, it delegates the authority to an agency to meet emergency needs as they arise. A constitutional provision or executive order authorized by statute may also create an agency.
Statutes establish most of the powers and functions of an administrative agency.
The powers of an agency may be explicitly or broadly defined depending on the amount of discretion an agency needs to carry out its mandate. Rule making Agency rule making grants no authority not already conferred by statute or the Constitution. Rules, however, interpret and refine agency authority by specifying the functions, standards, and procedures of the public employees carrying out the Legislature's program. As extensions of the statutes they implement, rules are used to govern what the public may or may not do. Executive policy is itself derived from statutory or constitutional authority.