Assembly Bill No. 123-Committee on Government Affairs
CHAPTER
397
- AN ACT relating to the legislative counsel bureau; requiring the legislative counsel to prepare and publish a register of certain information related to administrative regulations; requiring the legislative counsel to make available on the Internet the information contained in the register; requiring the legislative counsel to include in the Nevada Administrative Code a citation of authority for each section contained therein; and providing other matters properly relating thereto.
- [Approved July 11, 1997]
- THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, REPRESENTED IN
- SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
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Secs. 1-6. (Deleted by amendment.)
Sec. 7. Chapter 233B of NRS is hereby amended by adding thereto the provisions set forth as sections 8 and 9 of this act.
Sec. 8. 1. The legislative counsel shall prepare and publish or cause to be prepared and published a register of administrative regulations. The register must include the following information regarding each permanent regulation adopted by an agency:
(a) The proposed and adopted text of the regulation and any revised version of the regulation;
(b) The notice of intent to act upon the regulation set forth in NRS 233B.0603;
(c) The written notice of adoption of the regulation required pursuant to NRS 233B.064;
(d) The informational statement required pursuant to NRS 233B.066; and
(e) The effective date of the regulation, as determined pursuant to NRS 233B.070.
In carrying out the duties set forth in this subsection, the legislative counsel may use the services of the state printing division of the department of administration.
2. The legislative counsel shall publish the register not less than 10 times per year but not more than once every 2 weeks.
3. The register must be provided to and maintained by:
(a) The secretary of state;
(b) The attorney general;
(c) The supreme court law library;
(d) The state library and archives;
(e) Each county clerk;
(f) Each county library; and
(g) The legislative counsel bureau.
4. The legislative counsel may sell an additional copy of the register to any person or governmental entity that requests a copy, at a price which does not exceed the cost of publishing the additional copy.
5. The legislative counsel is immune from civil liability which may result from failure to include any information in the register.
Sec. 9. 1. The legislative counsel shall, without charge, make available for access on the Internet or its successor, if any, the information contained in the register of administrative regulations created pursuant to section 8 of this act. The legislative counsel may determine the manner in which this information is compiled and must revise the information at least as often as the register is published pursuant to section 8 of this act.
2. This section must not be construed to require the legislative counsel to provide any equipment or service that would enable a person to access the Internet.
Sec. 10. 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:
(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) 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) 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] a 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.
(f) Be submitted to the legislative counsel bureau for inclusion in the register of administrative regulations created pursuant to section 8 of this act. The publication of a notice of intent to act upon a regulation in the register does not satisfy the requirements for notice set forth in paragraph (e) of this subsection.
2. The attorney general may by regulation prescribe the form of notice to be used . [, which must be distributed]
3. In addition to distributing the notice to each recipient of the agency's regulations [. The] , the agency shall also solicit comment generally from the public and from businesses to be affected by the proposed regulation.
Sec. 11. NRS 233B.062 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.062 1. It is the policy of this state that every 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:
(a) The attorney general shall develop guidelines for drafting regulations; and
(b) Every permanent regulation must be incorporated, excluding any forms used by the agency, any publication adopted by reference, the title, [citation of authority,] any signature and other formal parts, in the Nevada Administrative Code, and every emergency or temporary regulation 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. 12. NRS 233B.064 is hereby amended to read as follows:
233B.064 1. An agency shall not adopt, amend or repeal a permanent regulation until it has received from the legislative counsel the approved or revised text of the regulation in the form to be adopted. The agency shall immediately notify the legislative counsel in writing of the date of adoption of each regulation adopted.
2. Upon adoption of any regulation, the agency, if requested to do so by an interested person, either [prior to] before adoption or within 30 days thereafter, shall issue a concise statement of the principal reasons for and against its adoption, and incorporate therein its reason for overruling the consideration urged against its adoption.
Sec. 13. 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] :
(a) Date on which an agency last completed a review of its regulations pursuant to paragraph (e) of subsection 1 of NRS 233B.050 [.] ; and
(b) Citation of authority pursuant to which the agency adopted each section of a permanent regulation.
3. The legislative counsel shall prepare or cause the superintendent of the state printing 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.
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.
5. Each agency shall reimburse the legislative counsel bureau and the state printing 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.
Sec. 14. The amendatory provisions of sections 11 and 13 of this act apply only to permanent regulations adopted on or after July 1, 1997.
Sec. 15. 1. This section and sections 7, 8, 9, 12 and 14 of this act, become effective on October 1, 1997.
2. Sections 10, 11 and 13 of this act become effective at 12:01 a.m. on October 1, 1997.
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