CHAPTER 107
HB 211 – FINAL VERSION
15Mar2011… 0611h
2011 SESSION
10/03
HOUSE BILL 211
AN ACT relative to the review and approval of proposed agency rules under the administrative procedures act.
SPONSORS: Rep. C. McGuire, Merr 8; Rep. S. Palmer, Hills 6; Rep. Seidel, Hills 20
COMMITTEE: Executive Departments and Administration
This bill allows legislative policy committees to review and comment on administrative rules proposals. The bill also requires a waiver for the joint legislative committee on administrative rules to exceed time frames to approve or object to a rule.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
15Mar2011… 0611h
11-0086
10/03
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to the review and approval of proposed agency rules under the administrative procedures act.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
107:1 Administrative Procedures Act; Proposed Rule; Policy Committee Review. Amend RSA 541-A:10 to read as follows:
541-A:10 Filing of Proposed Rule Text. At the same time the notice required by RSA 541-A:6, I is filed, the agency shall file the text of the proposed rule with the director of legislative services. The first time a rule is proposed under RSA 541-A:3 to implement newly-enacted state authority, the agency shall send an electronic copy of the notice and proposed rule to the chair of each house and senate standing policy committee, as defined in RSA 541-A:1, XVI, for distribution to the members of such standing policy committees. If the newly-enacted state authority was not referred originally to a standing policy committee, the agency shall send an electronic copy of the notice and proposed rule to the speaker of the house and senate president for appropriate distribution. If the agency does not have the technology necessary to send an electronic copy, the agency shall send a paper copy. The members of the standing policy committees receiving proposed rules may review the proposed rules to determine whether the proposed rule is consistent with the intent of the authorizing legislation. If a standing policy committee concludes that the proposed rule is not consistent with the intent of the authorizing legislation, the standing policy committee shall send written notice to the agency, with a copy to the director of legislative services, identifying the provision or provisions the committee believes to be inconsistent with legislative intent. Such written notice may be sent to the agency via e-mail and shall be delivered so as to be received by the agency no later than the deadline for public comment specified in the rulemaking notice. If the agency does not receive notice from any standing policy committee by the end of the public comment period, the agency may proceed on the basis that the rule is consistent with the intent of the authorizing legislation. The text as filed by the agency shall not be [changed or] established as the text of the final proposal until after the conclusion of the public comment period established pursuant to RSA 541-A:11.
107:2 Administrative Rulemaking; Review by Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules. Amend RSA 541-A:13, I to read as follows:
I. [Within 45 days of the filing of a final proposal with the director of legislative services,] The committee [may] shall either approve the rule or [object] enter a conditional approval or objection under paragraph V [, except that if an agency has filed] within 45 days of the filing of a final proposal under RSA 541-A:12, I, unless the deadline is waived for good cause pursuant to RSA 541-A:40. The committee shall either approve the rule or enter a conditional approval or objection under paragraph V within 60 days of the filing of a final proposal under RSA 541-A:12, I-a, [the time shall be extended to 60 days] unless the deadline is waived for good cause pursuant to RSA 541-A:40. Objections to a rule may be made only once.
107:3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: May 31, 2011
Effective Date: July 30, 2011