Assembly Bill No. 122-Committee on Government Affairs
February 3, 1997
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Referred to Committee on Government Affairs
SUMMARY--Makes various changes relating to Administrative Procedure Act. (BDR 18-237)
FISCAL NOTE: Effect on Local Government: No.
Effect on the State or on Industrial Insurance: Yes.
EXPLANATION - Matter in italics is new; matter in brackets [ ] is material to be omitted.
AN ACT relating to administrative procedure; requiring an agency periodically to review its regulations and report the results to the legislature; requiring an agency to conduct a workshop before holding a public hearing on a proposed regulation; directing the attorney general to develop guidelines for drafting regulations; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Section 1 NRS 233B.050 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.050 1. In addition to other regulation-making requirements imposed by law, each agency shall:
(a) Adopt rules of practice, setting forth the nature and requirements of all formal and informal procedures available, including a description of all forms and instructions used by the agency.
(b) Make available for public inspection all rules of practice and regulations adopted or used by the agency in the discharge of its functions and that part of the Nevada Administrative Code which contains its regulations.
(c) Make available for public inspection all final orders, decisions and opinions except those expressly made confidential or privileged by statute.
(d) Review its rules of practice at least once every 3 years and file with the secretary of state a statement setting forth the date on which the most recent review of those rules was completed and describing any revisions made as a result of the review.
(e) Review its regulations at least once every 10 years to determine whether it should amend or repeal any of the regulations. Within 30 days after completion of the review, the agency shall submit a report to the director of the legislative counsel bureau for distribution to the next regular session of the legislature. The report must include the date on which the agency completed its review of the regulations and describe any regulation that must be amended or repealed as a result of the review. The director of the legislative counsel bureau shall provide a copy of the report to the legislative counsel for the purposes of subsection 2 of NRS 233B.065.
2. [No agency] A regulation, rule, final order , [or] decision or opinion of an agency is not valid or effective against any person or party, nor may it be invoked by the agency for any purpose, until it has been made available for public inspection as required in this section, except that this provision does not apply in favor of any person or party who has actual knowledge thereof.
Sec. 2 NRS 233B.0603 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.0603 1. The notice of intent to act upon a regulation must:
(a) Include [a statement of:
(1) The] :
(1) A statement of the need for and purpose of the proposed regulation.
(2) Either the terms or substance of the proposed regulation or a description of the subjects and issues involved.
(3) [The] A statement of the estimated economic effect of the regulation on the business which it is to regulate and on the public. These must be stated separately and in each case must include:
(I) Both adverse and beneficial effects; and
(II) Both immediate and long-term effects.
(4) The estimated cost to the agency for enforcement of the proposed regulation.
(5) [Any] A description of any regulations of other state or local governmental agencies which the proposed regulation overlaps or duplicates and a statement explaining why the duplication or overlapping is necessary. If the regulation overlaps or duplicates a federal regulation, the notice must include the name of the regulating federal agency.
(6) If the regulation is required pursuant to federal law, a citation and description of the federal law.
(7) If the regulation includes provisions which are more stringent than a federal regulation that regulates the same activity, a summary of such provisions.
(8) The time when, the place where, and the manner in which, interested persons may present their views regarding the proposed regulation.
(b) State each address at which the text of the proposed regulation may be inspected and copied.
(c) Include an exact copy of the provisions of subsection 2 of NRS 233B.064.
(d) Include a statement indicating whether the regulation establishes any new fee or increases an existing fee.
(e) Be mailed to all persons who have requested in writing that they be placed upon a mailing list, which must be kept by the agency for that purpose.
2. The attorney general may by regulation prescribe the form of notice to be used, which must be distributed to each recipient of the agency's regulations. The agency shall also solicit comment generally from the public and from businesses to be affected by the proposed regulation.
Sec. 3 NRS 233B.061 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.061 1. All interested persons must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to submit data, views or arguments upon a proposed regulation, orally or in writing.
2. Before holding the public hearing required pursuant to subsection 3, an agency shall conduct at least one workshop to solicit comments from interested persons on one or more general topics to be addressed in a proposed regulation. Not less than 15 days before the workshop, the agency shall provide notice of the time and place set for the workshop:
(a) In writing to each person who has requested to be placed on a mailing list; and
(b) In any other manner reasonably calculated to provide such notice to the general public and any business that may be affected by a proposed regulation which addresses the general topics to be considered at the workshop.
3. With respect to substantive regulations, the agency shall set a time and place for an oral public hearing, but if no one appears who will be directly affected by the proposed regulation and requests an oral hearing, the agency may proceed immediately to act upon any written submissions. The agency shall consider fully all written and oral submissions respecting the proposed regulation.
[2.] 4. The agency shall keep, retain and make available for public inspection written minutes of each public hearing held pursuant to subsection [1] 3 in the manner provided in subsections 1 and 2 of NRS 241.035.
[3.] 5. The agency may record each public hearing held pursuant to subsection [1] 3 and make those recordings available for public inspection in the manner provided in subsection 4 of NRS 241.035.
Sec. 4 NRS 233B.062 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.062 1. It is the policy of this state that every [agency] regulation of an agency be made easily accessible to the public and expressed in clear and concise language. To assist in carrying out this policy [, every] :
(a) The attorney general shall develop guidelines for drafting regulations; and
(b) Every permanent regulation [shall] must be incorporated, excluding any forms used by the agency, any publication adopted by reference, the title, citation of authority, signature and other formal parts, in the Nevada Administrative Code, and every emergency or temporary regulation [shall] must be distributed in the same manner as the Nevada Administrative Code.
2. The legislative commission may authorize inclusion in the Nevada Administrative Code of the regulations of an agency otherwise exempted from the requirements of this chapter.
Sec. 5 NRS 233B.065 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.065 1. The legislative counsel shall prescribe the numbering, page size, style and typography of the Nevada Administrative Code. For convenience of reproduction in the code, he may prescribe the same matters in original agency regulations.
2. The legislative counsel shall cause to be included in the Nevada Administrative Code the date on which an agency last completed a review of its regulations pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 1 of NRS 233B.050.
3. The legislative counsel shall prepare or cause the superintendent of the state printing and micrographics division of the department of administration to prepare such sets of the Nevada Administrative Code and of supplementary pages as are required from time to time. A set must be provided to and kept respectively:
(a) By the secretary of state as the master copy;
(b) By the state librarian for public use;
(c) By the attorney general for his use and that of the executive department; and
(d) By the legislative counsel for his use and that of the legislature.
The legislative commission may direct the preparation of additional sets or pages, or both, and specify the places where those sets or parts of sets are to be kept and the uses to be made of them.
[3.] 4. The legislative counsel shall, without charge, provide:
(a) A complete set of the Nevada Administrative Code, upon request, to each person who is on July 1, 1985, or who becomes after that date a member of the legislature; and
(b) To each legislator who has so acquired the code, the replacement or supplementary pages which are issued during his term of office.
[4.] 5. Each agency shall reimburse the legislative counsel bureau and the state printing and micrographics division of the department of administration for their respective costs in preparing and keeping current that agency's portion of the Nevada Administrative Code in the number of copies required for official and public use. If additional sets or pages are sold, the legislative commission shall set sale prices sufficient to recover at least the cost of production and distribution of the additional sets or pages.