CSHB 140(FIN): "An Act relating to the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation; and relating to contact with agencies about regulations."
00 CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 140(FIN) 01 "An Act relating to the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation; and 02 relating to contact with agencies about regulations." 03 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 * Section 1. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section 05 to read: 06 SHORT TITLE. This Act may be known as the Regulation Impact Transparency Act. 07 * Sec. 2. AS 44.62.040(c) is amended to read: 08 (c) Before submitting the regulations and orders of repeal to the lieutenant 09 governor under (a) of this section, every state agency that by statute possesses 10 regulation making authority, except [BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS,] the office of 11 victims' rights [,] and the office of the ombudsman, and except as otherwise 12 provided by statute for the state agency, shall submit to the governor for review a 13 copy of every regulation or order of repeal adopted by the agency, except regulations 14 and orders of repeal identified in (a)(1) and (2) [(a)(1) - (2)] of this section. The
01 governor may review the regulations and orders of repeal received under this 02 subsection. The governor may return the regulations and orders of repeal to the 03 adopting agency before they are submitted to the lieutenant governor for filing under 04 (a) of this section within 30 days (1) if they are inconsistent with the faithful 05 execution of the laws, or (2) to enable the adopting agency to respond to specific 06 issues raised by the Administrative Regulation Review Committee. The governor may 07 not delegate the governor's review authority under this subsection to a person other 08 than the lieutenant governor. 09 * Sec. 3. AS 44.62.190(d) is amended to read: 10 (d) Along with a notice furnished under (a)(2), (4)(A), or (6) of this section, 11 the state agency shall include 12 (1) the reason for the proposed action, including, if applicable, an 13 identification of the law, order, decision, or other action of the federal 14 government or a federal or state court that requires the proposed action, that is 15 the basis for the proposed action, or to which the proposed action is responding; 16 in this paragraph, "federal government" means a department, agency, 17 corporation, or instrumentality of the United States government; 18 (2) the initial cost to the state agency of implementation; 19 (3) [,] the estimated annual costs, based on a good faith effort to 20 estimate the costs in the aggregate for each of the following categories using the 21 information available to the state agency, to 22 (A) private persons to comply with the proposed action; 23 (B) the state agency for [OF] implementation and to other 24 state agencies to comply with the proposed action; and 25 (C) municipalities to comply with the proposed action; 26 (4) [,] the name of the contact person for the state agency; [,] and 27 (5) the origin of the proposed action. 28 * Sec. 4. AS 44.62.190 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 29 (f) Notwithstanding AS 44.62.300, a person may not bring an action in court 30 to challenge the adoption, repeal, or amendment of a regulation by a state agency for 31 inaccuracy or insufficiency of the good faith cost estimates provided under (d)(3) of
01 this section. 02 (g) To the extent feasible, the subject line of electronic mail and the title of a 03 written publication providing the information required by (d) of this section must give 04 the reader a fair idea of the substance of the proposed new regulation, the proposed 05 amended regulation, or the regulation proposed for repeal. 06 * Sec. 5. AS 44.62.200(c) is amended to read: 07 (c) An agency that issues a notice under this section shall ensure [ASSURE] 08 that the notice is prepared in a form adequate for posting on the Alaska Online Public 09 Notice System. A complete copy of each proposed adoption, amendment, or 10 repeal of a regulation and, if feasible and not prohibited by copyright, any 11 document or other material incorporated by reference, including any document 12 or other material incorporated by reference under this section, in the proposed 13 adoption or amendment shall be posted on the Alaska Online Public Notice 14 System. 15 * Sec. 6. AS 44.62.200(d) is amended to read: 16 (d) When a state agency [, OTHER THAN THE REGULATORY 17 COMMISSION OF ALASKA, THE BOARD OF FISHERIES, OR THE BOARD OF 18 GAME,] posts, furnishes, or otherwise provides a notice of the proposed adoption, 19 amendment, or repeal of a regulation under AS 44.62.190, a brief description of the 20 changes made by the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal must accompany the 21 notice. However, if, under AS 44.62.190(a), the notice is published in a newspaper or 22 trade or industry publication or is broadcast, this subsection does not require that the 23 brief description otherwise required by this subsection accompany the publication or 24 the broadcast. To the extent practicable, the brief description shall be written in clear, 25 easily readable language that a person without a legal background is able to 26 understand. Notwithstanding AS 44.62.300, an action may not be brought for failure 27 of the brief description to comply with the requirements of this subsection relating to 28 the description of the changes or its clarity and readability. 29 * Sec. 7. AS 44.62 is amended by adding a new section to read: 30 Sec. 44.62.213. Agency contact with the public. (a) Notwithstanding any 31 other provision of this chapter, while an agency is developing a regulatory action and
01 before the agency provides a notice of proposed action under AS 44.62.190, the 02 agency may contact a person about the development of the regulatory action and the 03 agency may answer a question from a person that is relevant to the development of the 04 regulatory action. In this subsection, "regulatory action" means the adoption, 05 amendment, or repeal of a regulation. 06 (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, after an agency 07 provides a notice of proposed action under AS 44.62.190, the agency may contact a 08 person about the proposed action and the agency shall answer a question from a 09 person that is relevant to the proposed action. 10 * Sec. 8. AS 44.62.215 is amended to read: 11 Sec. 44.62.215. Record of public comment. In the drafting, review, or other 12 preparation of a proposed regulation, amendment, or order of repeal, an agency, other 13 than [A BOARD OR COMMISSION,] the office of victims' rights [,] and the office of 14 the ombudsman, shall keep a record of its use or rejection of factual or other 15 substantive information that is received electronically, orally, or [SUBMITTED] in 16 writing as public comment and that is relevant to the accuracy, coverage, or other 17 aspect of the proposed regulatory action. 18 * Sec. 9. AS 44.62.245(c) is amended to read: 19 (c) The state agency shall also send the notice described in (b)(2) of this 20 section to 21 (1) a person who has placed the person's name on a distribution list 22 kept by the agency that lists persons who want to receive the notice; the agency may 23 allow a person to request that distribution of the notice be by electronic means and 24 shall honor that request if appropriate means are available; [AND] 25 (2) the regulations attorney in the Department of Law; and 26 (3) the members of the Administrative Regulation Review 27 Committee. 28 * Sec. 10. AS 44.62.320(b) is amended to read: 29 (b) At the same time a regulation is submitted to [FILED BY] the lieutenant 30 governor for filing under AS 44.62.040, the lieutenant governor shall submit the 31 regulation to the chair [CHAIRMAN] and all members of the Administrative
01 Regulation Review Committee for review under AS 24.20.400 - 24.20.460 together 02 with the fiscal information required to be prepared under AS 44.62.195. 03 * Sec. 11. AS 44.62.320 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 04 (c) Within 10 days after receiving a regulation, the chair of the Administrative 05 Regulation Review Committee may submit to the lieutenant governor, by legislative 06 memorandum or letter, comments regarding the regulation provided to the 07 Administrative Regulation Review Committee under (b) of this section. 08 * Sec. 12. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 09 read: 10 APPLICABILITY. AS 44.62.040(c), as amended by sec. 2 of this Act, 11 AS 44.62.190(d), as amended by sec. 3 of this Act, AS 44.62.190(f) and (g), added by sec. 4 12 of this Act, AS 44.62.200(c), as amended by sec. 5 of this Act, AS 44.62.200(d), as amended 13 by sec. 6 of this Act, AS 44.62.213(b), enacted by sec. 7 of this Act, AS 44.62.215, as 14 amended by sec. 8 of this Act, AS 44.62.245(c), as amended by sec. 9 of this Act, 15 AS 44.62.320(b), as amended by sec. 10 of this Act, and AS 44.62.320(c), added by sec. 11 of 16 this Act, apply to proposed regulations first published under AS 44.62.190 on or after the 17 effective date of this Act.