The laws that create an administrative agency and provide its powers are called what?

• A. Founding statutes
• B. Regulatory acts
• C. Enabling acts
• D. Organic acts

Answer: (C)

Enabling acts are the statutes that create an administrative agency and grant it authority to operate. They name the agency, state its purpose, outline the specific powers it has (such as rulemaking, enforcement, and adjudication), and set the boundaries within which it must act. This is why enabling acts are the right term: they provide the legal basis that brings the agency into existence and empowers it to carry out its duties. While terms like founding statutes or organic acts appear in some contexts, they aren’t the standard label for the authorization that grants an agency its powers. Regulatory acts describe what the agency may do in terms of rules, not the creation and empowerment itself.