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RULESNEWS, Vol. 2004, No. 2 (April 19, 2004)

IN THIS ISSUE:

DIRECTIONS PLEASE: If someone else in your agency should receive RULESNEWS, please contact Sophia Manousakis (801-538-3764). If you no longer wish to receive RULESNEWS, you may unsubscribe by following the directions at the end of the newsletter. Please note, however, that unsubscribing will affect your access rights to the eRules filing application.

LEGISLATION WHICH AFFECTS RULEMAKING GENERALLLY

The 55th Legislature's 2004 General Session ended on March 3, 2004. During the session, one bill passed that affects administrative rules in general.

S.B. 22 "Reauthorization of Administrative Rules" by Sen. Howard Stephenson (R)

This is the Administrative Rules Review Committee's annual bill required by Section 63-46a-11.5. The bill ". . . reauthorizes all state agency administrative rules."

S.B. 22 goes into effect May 1, 2003. A copy of the enrolled bill is available online at: http://www.le.utah.gov/~2004/htmdoc/sbillhtm/SB0022.htm

Additional Information

Questions about this legislation may be directed to Ken Hansen, Director, Division of Administrative Rules, 4120 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-1201, phone: 801-538-3777, FAX: 801-538-1773.

2004 LEGISLATION EXPLICITLY AFFECTING AGENCY RULEMAKING

As a result of actions taken during the 2004 General Session, 370 bills will become law. Of these, at least 89 (affecting 161 separate statutory sections) modify explicit rulemaking authorizations.

The Division of Administrative Rules has prepared this list of bills to facilitate state agency compliance with legal rulemaking requirements. This list should not be considered exhaustive or conclusive. It does not include bills that contain implicit rulemaking requirements, nor does it consider sections of statutes that were completely repealed. Each agency is responsible for reviewing legislation and determining provisions that require rulemaking, either explicitly or implicitly.

The list is available at: http://www.rules.utah.gov/agncinfo/legis/gs2004rulemaking.pdf

UPDATED RULEMAKING TIME FRAMES AVAILABLE

The Division has posted an updated copy of the Rulemaking Time Frames on its website at http://www.rules.utah.gov/agncinfo/deadln.htm. This edition starts with the filing window that opens March 1, 2004. A printable (PDF) version is also available at http://www.rules.utah.gov/agncinfo/deadln.pdf.

RULEMAKING PROCESS SEMINARS SCHEDULED FOR 2004

The Division of Administrative Rules has scheduled rulemaking process seminars for 2004. These seminars are intended to give anyone involved in the rulemaking process the basic information needed to understand rulemaking in Utah. Anyone interested in learning more about how the process works is welcome. The seminars will be held in room 4112 of the State Office Building:

Topics to be covered will include:

The costs or savings topic is of particular importance, and has been the subject of a number of questions fielded by the Division's staff. Incomplete responses to the cost questions may cause the Division to delay the processing of administrative rules submissions. By discussing these issues, we hope to eliminate any delays, and thus ensure that you can make your rules effective on schedule.

Those wishing to attend must RSVP to Sophia Manousakis at 801-538-3764 no later than two days prior to the date of the seminar. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, persons needing auxiliary communicative aids and services for these meetings should notify Ms. Manousakis at least three working days in advance of the meeting.

RULES TO REVIEW IN 2004

Section 63-46a-9 requires each agency to review its rules within five years of each rule's original enactment or last five-year review, and then within five-year intervals. To comply with the review requirement, the agency must submit a FIVE-YEAR NOTICE OF REVIEW AND STATEMENT OF CONTINUATION for each of its rules listed below. Otherwise, the rules will expire. Reviews may be filed ANY TIME prior to the deadline.

With the advent of eRules, when a FIVE-YEAR NOTICE OF REVIEW AND STATEMENT OF CONTINUATION is filed, the text of the rule must be attached. Please contact Nancy Lancaster (801-538-3218) or Mike Broschinsky (801-538-3003) to obtain a current version of your rule.

The Division sends quarterly E-mail notices to agencies of rules due for review. As advance notice, a list of the rules due for review during 2004, as of April 16, 2004, is included below.

Administrative Services

R23. Facilities Construction and Management.

R35. Records Committee.

Commerce

R152. Consumer Protection.

R156. Occupational and Professional Licensing.

Crime Victim Reparations

R270. Administration.

Education

R277. Administration.

R280. Rehabilitation.

Environmental Quality

R307. Air Quality.

Health

R380. Administration.

R384. Community and Family Health Services, Chronic Disease.

R392. Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, Environmental Services.

R398. Community and Family Health Services, Children with Special Health Care Needs.

R414. Health Care Financing, Coverage and Reimbursement and Policy.

R426. Health Systems Improvement, Emergency Medical Services.

R430. Health Systems Improvement, Child Care Licensing.

Human Services

R512. Child and Family Services.

R527. Recovery Services.

Insurance

R590. Administration.

Labor Commission

R610. Antidiscrimination and Labor, Labor.

R612. Industrial Accidents.

Lieutenant Governor

R622. Administration.

Natural Resources

R651. Parks and Recreation.

R657. Wildlife Resources.

Professional Practices Advisory Commission

R686. Administration.

Public Safety

R704. Comprehensive Emergency Management.

R708. Driver License.

R714. Highway Patrol.

Public Service Commission

R746. Administration.

Workforce Services

R994. Workforce Information and Payment Services.

A CONTEXT FOR UTAH RULEMAKING: E-RULEMAKING INITIATIVES

E-Rulemaking is fast becoming an issue nationwide. The Federal government is the primary locus of much of the attention, research, and development. Sites like Regulations.gov (http://www.regulations.gov/) have raised awareness of the possibilities of increased public participation in the regulatory process by using the Internet. Other sites, like U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Docket Management System (DMS) (http://dms.dot.gov/), take this notion a step further. The DOT DMS makes greater portions of the rulemaking process available to the public. Now, at the federal level, there is considerable discussion, with the Environmental Protection Agency as the lead agency, about making all parts of the rulemaking process--from conception and drafting to adoption of the final rule, including public comment--open to public review and available online. This transparency is one of the goals of E-Rulemaking.

Others are also involved in this effort. Harvard's Kennedy School of Government (KSG) hosts the E-Rulemaking Resource Website (http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/cbg/rpp/erulemaking/). The KSG, American University (http://www.american.edu/academics/provost/rulemaking/erulemaking.htm), and others have hosted conferences about E-rulemaking.

The Federal Government is not alone in its attempts to implement E-Rulemaking. States have been experimenting with automating and publishing various portions of the process since 1994. Utah was one of the first states to permit agencies to file rules electronically. Other states have been developing systems as well. Of special note is the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall (http://www.townhall.state.va.us/) because of its emphasis on public participation. It permits citizens to identify administrative rules they wish to track and request E-mail notification when action is taken on those rules. Comment may be submitted electronically. Others, like Rhode Island, are looking at innovative uses of Really Simple Syndication/Rich Site Summary (RSS) news feeds.

Looking at an even larger picture, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (http://www.oecd.org/) has published a report called, "Promise and Problems of E-Democracy: Challenges of Online Citizen Engagement." A message posted to KSG's E-Rulemaking ListServ introduces the report by saying:

The unprecedented degree of interactivity offered by new [information and communication technologies] has the potential to expand the scope, breadth, and depth of government consultations with citizens and other key stakeholders during policy-making. At the same time, such new tools pose significant challenges to governments in terms of their technical, political and constitutional implications. Among the questions raised are: * How can government ensure an equal hearing and 'assured listening' to so many individual voices? * How can online consultations be designed to bridge the digital divide and ensure the inclusion of traditionally marginalized groups? * How will such inputs be integrated into the policy-making cycle? * How can guarantees for personal data protection be ensured?

The bottom line: the Internet has changed everything, including how people view their government and the tools people use to interact with it. Utah's eRules -- web-enabled rule filing for agencies -- was an early step. More will be expected (demanded) shortly.

It is interesting to note that, in Utah, centralized paper publication of administrative rules began in 1973 and functioned well as the sole-source of statewide administrative rules-related information for 22 years. Since 1995 (for nine years), Utah's "paper" administrative rules publication have been posted online (same paradigm, different medium). In 2003, the funding for the paper editions of Utah's administrative rules publications was discontinued. The environment has changed. State agencies and citizens now have an opportunity to ask what they want administrative rulemaking, public notice, and public participation to look like.

FILING ISSUES

Problems with eRules?

If you encounter a problem with eRules (the Division's application that agency rulewriters use to file rules), please call the Division at 801-538-3218 right away so that we can get the problem resolved. When the Division becomes aware of a problem, staff posts a notice to the eRules ListServ to notify other agency rulewriters of the problem, and when the problem is resolved.

To subscribe to the eRules ListServ, send a blank E-mail message to join-erules@list.utah.gov .

"Button, Button, Don't Use That Back Button!"

eRules is programmed with navigation buttons and links on each screen. A rulewriter should never, ever, NEVER (did I emphasize that enough?) use the BROWSER navigation buttons (the back button at the top of the browser usually labeled with an arrow) to navigate within eRules. Using the browser navigation buttons may result in the loss of data, or worse.

If you have questions about using eRules, please attend one of the Division's training seminars or contact the Division at 801-538-3764 to make a separate appointment.

ADMINISTRATIVE RULES REVIEW COMMITTEE UPDATE

The Legislature's Administrative Rules Review Committee ( ARRC) held its first meeting after the 2004 General Session on Tuesday, April 6, 2004. At that meeting, the committee discussed the Public Service Commission's (PSC) stance regarding exemption of Mutual Water Corporations from PSC regulation; the Tax Commission's role to oversee the operations of its divisions; and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing's questionnaires.

The ARRC scheduled upcoming meetings for April 20 and May 4. Meetings are typically held at 9:00 a.m. in room 305 of the State Capitol. The ARRC meeting notices and agendas are available online at http://le.utah.gov/asp/interim/Commit.asp?Year=2004&Com=SPEADM. Additional information about the committee is available at http://www.rules.utah.gov/arrc/arrc.htm.

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The Department of Administrative Services, Division of Administrative Rules, publishes RULESNEWS periodically for state rulewriting agencies. Kenneth A. Hansen, Director. Direct comments to the: Division of Administrative Rules, 4120 State Office Building, Salt Lake City, UT 84114-1201; Phone: 801-538-3764; FAX: 801-538-1773; Internet URL: http://www.rules.utah.gov/.

<<RULESNEWS, Vol. 2004, No. 2 (April 19, 2004)>>

Questions?

For questions about the rulemaking process, please contact the Division of Administrative Rules (801-538-3764). Please Note: The Division of Administrative Rules is NOT able to answer questions about the content or application of administrative rules.

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Last Modified: December 17, 2008