Rules Task Force

December 5, 2000

At its last meeting, the task force discussed methods of repealing obsolete rules. The task force suggested that staff develop some options.

Members of the task force expressed concern that in some cases agencies have brought proposals late in the legislative session for repealers of large numbers of rules. In these cases, there is little opportunity for scrutiny by legislators, legislative staff, or the affected public. Some members of the task force suggested possible changes to legislative rules or procedures, to ensure adequate consideration of proposed rule repeals.

Some possible approaches to this issue are:

Attach text of rules to bills: Joint legislative rules could permit the Revisor to attach to a bill the text of rules proposed for repeal. This would be similar to current practice for statutes that a bill proposes for repeal. It is not clear how much computer programming would be necessary to allow the Revisor to automate this process.

Develop one bill repealing obsolete rules: Without necessarily changing legislative rules, the legislature could have a practice of developing one bill repealing obsolete rules. The bill could be introduced early in the session when there is time for scrutiny. Under this proposal, key legislators presumably would discourage agencies (or other legislators) from seeking to repeal obsolete rules in other bills.

Under current Minnesota Statutes, section 3C.04, subdivision 4, the Revisor of Statutes has authority to prepare bills clarifying and correcting statutes and administrative rules. Current Joint Rule 2.01 refers to the Revisor attaching an informational memorandum to a "Revisor's bill" correcting errors in Minnesota Statutes. The joint rule could be amended to permit an informational memorandum for a parallel bill repealing obsolete rules.

If the Revisor or the legislature generally developed one bill to repeal obsolete rules, it may be desirable to consider some type of "sign-off" procedure to ensure that the affected rules were regarded as obsolete.

Hold early legislative hearings on obsolete rules: The task force could recommend that each policy committee hold one or more hearings early each legislative session on obsolete rules identified in agency reports. Rules that committees believe are obsolete eventually could be packaged into one bill, perhaps in the governmental operations committees. This type of process would give opportunity for public input and for discussion in committees that have expertise.

Require a rule note on proposed repeals: Under current Minnesota Statutes, section 3.985, the chair of a standing committee to which a bill delegating rulemaking authority has been referred may require an agency to prepare a rulemaking note on the proposed delegation of authority. A similar provision could be created for bills proposing repeal of rules.

Require re-referral of bills repealing rules. The House and Senate could adopt rules requiring that bills repealing rules be re-referred to Governmental Operations. This would be parallel to the current rule requiring re-referral of bills granting rulemaking authority.

Use the expedited rulemaking process to repeal obsolete rules: The task force could recommend that the use of the expedited rulemaking process in section 14.389 to repeal rules listed in an agency's annual report on obsolete rules. It would be possible to require use of the full rulemaking process if 100 or more people objected to use of the expedited process. Another option would be to allow standing committees of the legislature to trigger a fuller rulemaking process.

Finally, we note that there may be some practical difficulties in attempting to draft a law or legislative rules that would limit the legislature's ability to consider repeal of obsolete rules. For example:

In some instances it may be difficult to define an "obsolete" rule. Sometimes agencies propose rules for repeal, but state from the beginning that the repeal may be controversial. It would not necessarily be desirable to force the legislature to include these repeals in one bill.

Some rules may become obsolete very late in the legislative process, sometimes as a result of a bill repealing a law. For example, if a health and human services conference committee agrees to repeal a law mandating certain forms of regulation, the accompanying rules may become obsolete. In this instance, it may be desirable to repeal the obsolete rules in the same bill that repeals the law.

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