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