Bill Text: CT SB01018 | 2015 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: An Act Concerning Regulations Exceeding Federal Standards Or Procedures.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-27 - Public Hearing 03/03 [SB01018 Detail]

Download: Connecticut-2015-SB01018-Introduced.html

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General Assembly		Raised Bill No. 1018
January Session, 2015		LCO No. 4303
		*04303_______CE_*
Referred to Committee on COMMERCE
Introduced by:
(CE)

AN ACT CONCERNING REGULATIONS EXCEEDING FEDERAL STANDARDS OR PROCEDURES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2015) Prior to the adoption of any proposed regulation pertaining to activities for which the federal government has adopted standards or procedures, and such proposed regulation deviates from such standards or procedures, an agency shall prepare a federal deviation analysis that shall explain, in plain language, the reason for such deviation. Such federal deviation analysis shall be: (1) Included in the regulation-making record required under section 4-168b of the general statutes, as amended by this act, (2) publicly available at the time of the notice concerning the regulation required under section 4-168 of the general statutes, as amended by this act, and (3) included in the submission of the regulation to the standing legislative regulation review committee pursuant to subsection (b) of section 4-170 of the general statutes, as amended by this act.

Sec. 2. Subsection (a) of section 4-168 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(a) Except as provided in subsections (g) and (h) of this section, an agency, not less than thirty days prior to adopting a proposed regulation, shall (1) post a notice of its intended action on the eRegulations System, which notice shall include (A) a specified public comment period of not less than thirty days, (B) a description sufficiently detailed so as to apprise persons likely to be affected of the issues and subjects involved in the proposed regulation, (C) a statement of the purposes for which the regulation is proposed, (D) a reference to the statutory authority for the proposed regulation, (E) when, where and how interested persons may obtain a copy of the [small business impact and] regulatory flexibility analysis required pursuant to section 4-168a and a copy of the federal deviation analysis required pursuant to section 1 of this act, if applicable, and (F) when, where and how interested persons may present their views on the proposed regulation; (2) post a copy of the proposed regulation on the eRegulations System; (3) give notice electronically to each joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of the subject matter of the proposed regulation; (4) give notice electronically or provide a paper copy notice, if requested, to all persons who have made requests to the agency for advance notice of its regulation-making proceedings; (5) provide a paper copy or electronic version of the proposed regulation to persons requesting it; and (6) prepare a fiscal note, including an estimate of the cost or of the revenue impact (A) on the state or any municipality of the state, and (B) on small businesses in the state, including an estimate of the number of small businesses subject to the proposed regulation and the projected costs, including but not limited to, reporting, recordkeeping and administrative, associated with compliance with the proposed regulation and, if applicable, the regulatory flexibility analysis prepared under section 4-168a. The governing body of any municipality, if requested, shall provide the agency, within twenty working days, with any information that may be necessary for analysis in preparation of such fiscal note.

Sec. 3. Subsection (b) of section 4-168b of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(b) The regulation-making record shall contain at least: (1) The agency's notice of intent to adopt regulations; (2) any written analysis prepared for the proceeding upon which the regulation is based, including the regulatory flexibility analysis required pursuant to section 4-168a and the federal deviation analysis required pursuant to section 1 of this act, if applicable; (3) all comments submitted on the proposed regulation; (4) the official transcript, if any, of proceedings upon which the regulation is based or, if not transcribed, any audio recording or stenographic record of such proceedings, and any memoranda prepared by any member or employee of the agency summarizing the contents of the proceedings; (5) all official documents relating to the regulation, including the regulation submitted to the office of the Secretary of the State in accordance with section 4-172, a statement of the principal considerations in opposition to the agency's action, and the agency's reasons for rejecting such considerations, as required pursuant to section 4-168, as amended by this act, and the fiscal note prepared pursuant to subsection (a) of section 4-168, as amended by this act, and section 4-170, as amended by this act; (6) any petition for the regulation filed pursuant to section 4-174; and (7) all comments or communications between the agency and the legislative regulation review committee. No audio recording of a hearing held pursuant to section 4-168, as amended by this act, shall be posted on the eRegulations System unless the Secretary of the State confirms that such posting will not constitute a violation of any state or federal law regarding accessibility for persons with disabilities. Any audio recording of a hearing held pursuant to section 4-168, as amended by this act, that is not posted on the eRegulations System shall be maintained by the agency and made available to the public upon request. If an agency determines that any part of the regulation-making record is impractical to display or is inappropriate for public display on the eRegulations System, the agency shall describe the part omitted in a statement posted on the eRegulations System and shall maintain a copy of the omitted material readily available for public inspection at the principal office of the agency.

Sec. 4. Subsection (b) of section 4-170 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2015):

(b) (1) No adoption, amendment or repeal of any regulation, except a regulation issued pursuant to subsection (g) of section 4-168, shall be effective until (A) an electronic copy of (i) the proposed regulation approved by the Attorney General, as provided in section 4-169, [and an electronic copy of] (ii) the regulatory flexibility analysis, as provided in section 4-168a, and (iii) the federal deviation analysis, as provided in section 1 of this act, if applicable, are submitted to the standing legislative regulation review committee in a manner designated by the committee, by the agency proposing the regulation, (B) the regulation is approved by the committee, at a regular meeting or a special meeting called for the purpose, and (C) a certified electronic copy of the regulation is submitted to the office of the Secretary of the State by the agency, as provided in section 4-172, and the regulation is posted on the eRegulations System by the Secretary. (2) The date of submission for purposes of subsection (c) of this section shall be the first Tuesday of each month. Any regulation received by the committee on or before the first Tuesday of a month shall be deemed to have been submitted on the first Tuesday of that month. Any regulation submitted after the first Tuesday of a month shall be deemed to be submitted on the first Tuesday of the next succeeding month. (3) The form of proposed regulations which are submitted to the committee shall be as follows: New language added to an existing regulation shall be underlined; language to be deleted shall be enclosed in brackets and a new regulation or new section of a regulation shall be preceded by the word "(NEW)" in capital letters. Each proposed regulation shall have a statement of its purpose following the final section of the regulation. (4) The committee may permit any proposed regulation, including, but not limited to, a proposed regulation which by reference incorporates in whole or in part, any other code, rule, regulation, standard or specification, to be submitted in summary form together with a statement of purpose for the proposed regulation. On and after October 1, 1994, if the committee finds that a federal statute requires, as a condition of the state exercising regulatory authority, that a Connecticut regulation at all times must be identical to a federal statute or regulation, then the committee may approve a Connecticut regulation that by reference specifically incorporates future amendments to such federal statute or regulation provided the agency that proposed the Connecticut regulation shall submit for approval amendments to such Connecticut regulations to the committee not later than thirty days after the effective date of such amendment, and provided further the committee may hold a public hearing on such Connecticut amendments. (5) The agency shall also provide the committee with a copy of the fiscal note prepared pursuant to subsection (a) of section 4-168, as amended by this act. At the time of submission to the committee, the agency shall submit an electronic copy of the proposed regulation and the fiscal note to (A) the Office of Fiscal Analysis which, not later than seven days after receipt, shall submit an analysis of the fiscal note to the committee; and (B) each joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of the subject matter of the proposed regulation. No regulation shall be found invalid due to the failure of an agency to submit an electronic copy of the proposed regulation and the fiscal note to each committee of cognizance, provided such regulation and fiscal note have been electronically submitted to one such committee.

This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections:
Section 1	October 1, 2015	New section
Sec. 2	October 1, 2015	4-168(a)
Sec. 3	October 1, 2015	4-168b(b)
Sec. 4	October 1, 2015	4-170(b)

Statement of Purpose:

To require the inclusion of a plain-language explanation of why proposed regulations differ from the applicable federal standard when any such regulations are submitted to the legislative regulations review committee.

[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]