Delegators want to avoid information costs – they’ll clarify the perm.
Feinstein 22 Brian D. Feinstein, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies & Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania, 2022, “Submerged Independent Agencies”, University of Chicago Law School, https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2178&context=public_law_and_legal_theory, liam.
Discretion, however, not only arises de jure, but also from de facto considerations. The most important are information costs, that is, the resources required to learn about existing subdelegated authorities as well as what decisions are made pursuant to them. Because it is costly for delegator to learn about how delegatees are exercising their authority, delegatees often exercise great discretion in practice. In the words of the previously-mentioned SEC commissioner: During my tenure, the staff has improved at giving Commissioners a “headsup” about notable actions that the staff plans to take using its delegated authority. Nevertheless, there are still times when the staff acted based on delegated authority on important matters (or, at least, important to one or more Commissioners) without notice to the Commissioners.110 As a result, it is often extremely difficult for agency heads to learn about decisions made pursuant to delegated authority until after the fact. These information costs are particularly high for new political appointees with steep learning curves.