SB 981

This bill modifies biennial reporting requirements for agencies on administrative rules, restricts agencies from promulgating rules if they are delinquent in complying with the reporting requirement, and expands the availability of an expedited, alternative rule-making process that can be used to repeal certain rules.

Current law requires each agency with any rules published in the code to biennially submit a report to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) listing all of the following rules promulgated or otherwise administered by that agency:

1. “Unauthorized rules,” which are defined as rules that an agency lacks the authority to promulgate due to the repeal or amendment of the law that previously authorized their promulgation.

2. Rules for which the authority to promulgate has been restricted.

3. Rules that are obsolete or that have been rendered unnecessary.

4. Rules that are duplicative of, superseded by, or in conflict with another rule, a state statute, a federal statute or regulation, or a court ruling.

5. Economically burdensome rules.

Current law also allows for the use of an expedited repeal process for unauthorized rules, as defined above, whereby an agency can repeal an unauthorized rule without needing to use the full rule-making process. Under the expedited repeal process, an agency can petition JCRAR to repeal the unauthorized rule, and, if JCRAR approves the petition, the agency may then repeal the rule by filing the final rule with the Legislative Reference Bureau.

This bill makes a number of changes to these and related provisions, including the following:

1. The bill provides that an agency that is delinquent with its biennial reporting requirement is restricted from taking any action with respect to the promulgation of any rules until the agency submits its delinquent report.

2. The bill requires an agency, before preparing its biennial rules report, to hold a public hearing and solicit public comment from the public on rules promulgated or otherwise administered by that agency that may satisfy any of the above criteria. The agency must then take that feedback into account before finalizing its biennial rules report.

3. The bill allows an agency to use the expedited repeal process to repeal any rule listed in its biennial rules report, subject to approval by JCRAR.