RulesNews

Rep. David Clark’s "State Agency Timely Adoption of Administrative Rules" bill has been numbered as H.B. 327. The bill amends Section 63-46a-4 of the Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act. It requires an agency to file a rule mandated by legislation within 180 days of the legislation’s effective date. If the agency does not file the rule with the Division of Administrative Rules within 180 days, the agency is required to appear before the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC) and provide a reason for the delay. More information about H.B. 327 is available online at http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2007/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hb0327.htm.

Rep. Ben C. Ferry, Republican from District 2, has been assigned as the House chair of the Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee. Rep. Ferry has served in the House since 1999. He replaces Rep. David Ure. More information about Rep. Ferry is available online at http://le.utah.gov/house/members2005/bios2005.asp?id=2. The Division welcomes Rep. Ferry to the Administrative Rules Review Committee.

As of January 19, 2007, the following bills have been filed that affect administrative rules generally.

H.B. 64. Impact of Administrative Rules on Small Businesses. Rep. S. Clark.

Rep. S. Clark is sponsoring “Impact of Administrative Rules on Small Businesses.” As introduced, this bill is identical to S.B. 157 (2006) and H.B. 209 (2005) as amended. The bill defines small business (employing fewer than 50 persons) and requires that agencies report anticipated cost or savings to small businesses and business in general as part of the rule analysis.

At the Division of Administrative Rules’ request, Rep. Clark moved an amendment with two changes on the House floor. The first, affecting line 122, replaced “other persons” in existing language with “persons other than small businesses, businesses, and local governments”. This is intended to clarify that agencies do not have to address these areas twice on the rule analysis form.

The second change added an effective date to the bill of July 1, 2007. This is intended to give the Division some additional time in implementing the provisions of the bill.

Additionally, Rep. R. Becker made a floor amendment to change line 121 removing “business in general” from the items on which agencies needed to comment separately. The amendment passed.

The bill passed the House and is now in the Senate for consideration. More information about H.B. 64 is available at http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2007/htmdoc/hbillhtm/hb0064.htm.

S.B. 32. Filings of Administrative Rules, Orders, and Regulations. Sen. H. Stephenson.

This bill, an Administrative Rules Review Committee bill, amends Section 63-5a-7 changing the location at which an order, rule, or regulation must be filed for those documents to have effect during an emergency. The current law requires that these documents be filed with the Division of Archives. The bill changes the filing venue to the Division of Administrative Rules. This bill makes Section 63-5a-7 consistent with changes made to the Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act in 1987. The Division of Administrative Rules requested this bill after consultation with the Department of Public Safety. More information about S.B. 32 is available at http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2007/htmdoc/sbillhtm/sb0032.htm.

S.B. 122. Administrative Rules Reauthorization. Sen. H. Stephenson.

S.B. 122 is the Administrative Rules Review Committee’s annual bill required by Section 63-46a-11.5. The bill, as introduced, reauthorizes all administrative rules. More information about S.B. 122 is available at http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2007/htmdoc/sbillhtm/sb0122.htm.

S.B. 138. Administrative Rule Criminal Penalty Amendments. Sen. H. Stephenson.

The “Administrative Rule Criminal Penalty Amendments” bill is substantially similar to Substitute H.B. 317 (2006). The bill amends sections throughout the Utah Code that currently prescribe a criminal penalty for the violation of a rule. The bill affects the following sections: Sections 4-38-7, 9-4-612, 32A-12-104, 40-6-12, 40-8-9, 41-3-210, 41-3-701, 41-3-702, 41-6a-1115, 51-7-22.4, 53-7-226, 59-14-212, 63C-9-301, 65A-3-1, 76-10-1233, and 76-10-1234. More information about S.B. 138 is available at http://www.le.state.ut.us/~2007/htmdoc/sbillhtm/sb0138.htm.

Additional Information

Questions about these bills may be directed to Ken Hansen (801-538-3777).

Agencies that reference Federal Registers, Supreme Court decisions, treaties, or law journals now have access to a valuable resource. The Utah State Law Library (formerly referred to as the Supreme Court Law Library) has announced desktop access to HeinOnline, a legal research database, for Utah state agencies.

To use the service, state employees must access HeinOnline from a computer with a state-assigned IP address. Access HeinOnline at http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Welcome.

The HeinOnline subscription includes:

• Law Journal Library, with access to more than 900 American, international, and non-U.S. legal periodicals. Most journal coverage begins with v.1 and is within a volume of the most current. By comparison, Lexis and Westlaw coverage generally starts in the mid-1980s.
• Treaties and Agreements Library, which includes all U.S. treaties and agreements in force and expired, in addition to explanatory materials.
• Federal Register Library, which includes the Federal Register (1936- ), Code of Federal Regulations (1938-1983), Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (1965- ), and U.S. Government Manual (1935- ).
• U.S. Supreme Court Library which includes the U.S. Reports (v.1- ) as well as books and journals about the court.
• U. S. Attorney General Opinions Library which includes the Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States (1791-1982) and the Opinions of the Office of Legal Counsel of the United States Department of Justice (1977-1996).
• U.S. Federal History Library which provides complete legislative histories of dozens of major federal acts.
• U.S. Statutes at Large Library which provides coverage from the beginning of the set, v.1, through v.118 (1789-2004).
• Presidential Library which includes assorted compilations of the papers of the presidents (1896-2001), as well as Title 3 of the CFR (1936-2001).
• Legal Classics Library which includes hundreds of historical American legal treatises.

All documents are fully searchable PDF images, which include all charts, graphs and photos appearing in the original.

Visit the HeinOnline website at http://www.heinonline.org/ and select “Titles Currently Available or in Production” for a complete list of available resources.

Please contact Jessica Van Buren at the Utah State Law Library if you are prompted for a user name and password. You can reach her at 801-238-7991 or jessicavb “at” email.utcourts.gov.

Kudos and thank you to the State Law Library for making this important reference resource available.

H.B. 64, entitled “Impact of Administrative Rules on Small Businesses”, was approved by the House Business and Labor Standing Committee on January 18, 2007.

The Division of Administrative Rules has asked the sponsor for two clarifying amendments. The first, affecting line 122, would replace "other persons" with "persons other than small businesses, businesses, and local governments". This is intended to make it clear that agencies do not have to address these areas twice on the rule analysis form.

The second amendment would add an effective date of July 1, 2007, to the bill. This is intended to give the Division some additional time in implementing the provisions of the bill.

S.B. 32, an Administrative Rules Review Committee bill than makes a technical correction to Section 63-5a-7, passed the Senate. It has been introduced in the House and is now in the Rules Committee awaiting committee assignment.