The Continuing Study of the Partnership

N May 25, 1965, the House and Senate Subcommittees on Intergovernmental Relations held five days of joint hearings on the five year record of the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.' The week was dominated by a procession of witnesses who testified as to their general satisfaction with the work of the Commission and their firm belief in its continued utility. The only serious questions raised about the Commission's functioning to date were in regard to its effectiveness in securing the improvements which it has recommended. It was generally agreed that an assessment of its effectiveness is a difficult matter, involving as it does immediate achievements such as the passage of Federal and State legislation implementing Commission recommendations, and longer-range considerations such as the provision of vital information that will guide officials at all levels in future decision-making and the molding of a climate of opinion favorable to its larger concerns. It was also agreed that, whatever the conclusions in regard to the former question, the Commission had succeeded in producing a large number of useful

Advisory committee · Commission · General partnership · Political science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Public Administration