Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

House Study Bill 696 - Introduced
                                  SENATE/HOUSE FILE _____
                                  BY (PROPOSED GOVERNOR BILL)
                            A BILL FOR
An Act concerning the executive branch rulemaking process and
  other agency functions and related matters.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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                            DIVISION I
                  RULEMAKING AND RELATED MATTERS
    Section 1. Section 2B.5A, subsection 4, Code 2024, is
 amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 2. Section 8A.206, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code
 2024, is amended to read as follows:
    b. Maintain, as an integral part of the law library, reports
 of various boards and agencies,; copies of journals of the
 senate and house of representatives; electronic access to
 bills, journals, and other information relating to current or
 proposed legislation, copies of; and electronic access to the
 Iowa administrative bulletin and Iowa administrative code and,
 consistent with section 17A.6, subsection 3, copies of any
 publications incorporated by reference in the bulletin or code.
    Sec. 3. Section 10A.506, subsection 10, Code 2024, is
 amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 4. Section 17A.3, subsection 1, paragraphs a, b, and c,
 Code 2024, are amended by striking the paragraphs.
    Sec. 5. Section 17A.4, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph
 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as follows:
    Prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any rule an
 agency shall submit the proposed rulemaking for preclearance to
 the administrative rules coordinator in the manner prescribed
 by the administrative rules coordinator and do all of the
 following:
    Sec. 6. Section 17A.4, subsection 3, paragraph a, Code 2024,
 is amended to read as follows:
    a. When the statute so provides, or with the approval of
 the administrative rules review committee, if the committee
 finds good cause that notice and public participation would be
 unnecessary, impracticable, or contrary to the public interest,
 the provisions of subsection 1 shall be inapplicable. However,
 the requirement for prior submission to the administrative
 rules coordinator for preclearance shall remain applicable.
    Sec. 7. Section 17A.4A, subsections 1 and 5, Code 2024, are
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 amended to read as follows:
    1. An agency shall issue a regulatory analysis of a proposed
 rule that complies with subsection 2, paragraph paragraphs
 “a” and “b”, if, within thirty-two days after the published
 notice of proposed rule adoption, a written request for the
 analysis is submitted to the agency by the administrative rules
 review committee or the administrative rules coordinator. An
 agency shall issue a regulatory analysis of a proposed rule
 that complies with subsection 2, paragraph “b”, if the rule
 would have a substantial impact on small business and if,
 within thirty-two days after the published notice of proposed
 rule adoption, a written request for analysis is submitted to
 the agency by the administrative rules review committee, the
 administrative rules coordinator, at least twenty-five persons
 signing that request who each qualify as a small business or
 by an organization representing at least twenty-five such
 persons. If a rule has been adopted without prior notice and
 an opportunity for public participation in reliance upon prior
 to submitting a notice of intended action to the administrative
 rules coordinator and the administrative code editor pursuant
 to section 17A.4, subsection 3 1, the written request for an
 analysis that complies with subsection 2, paragraph “a” or “b”,
 may be made within seventy days of publication of the rule.
    5. The agency shall not submit a notice of intended action
 to the administrative rules coordinator and the administrative
 code editor pursuant to section 17A.4, subsection 1, paragraph
 “a”, for a proposed rule until the conclusion of the opportunity
 for oral presentation required by subsection 4 and preclearance
 by the administrative rules coordinator as required by section
 17A.4, subsection 1. In the case of a rule adopted without
 prior notice and an opportunity for public participation in
 reliance upon section 17A.4, subsection 3, the summary must
 be published within agency shall have until seventy days of
 after the request adoption to submit a regulatory analysis
 as described in subsection 4 for publication in the Iowa
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 administrative bulletin. If a rule adopted in reliance upon
 section 17A.4, subsection 3, will be published in the Iowa
 administrative bulletin concurrently with a corresponding
 notice of intended action, a separate regulatory analysis for
 the notice of intended action is not required.
    Sec. 8. Section 17A.4A, subsection 2, paragraph a,
 unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2024, is amended to read as
 follows:
    Except to the extent that a written request for a regulatory
 analysis expressly waives one or more of the following, the The
 regulatory analysis must contain all of the following:
    Sec. 9. Section 17A.4A, subsection 4, Code 2024, is amended
 by striking the subsection and inserting in lieu thereof the
 following:
    4. The agency shall submit the regulatory analysis to the
 administrative code editor, who shall publish it in the Iowa
 administrative bulletin. The regulatory analysis shall include
 a statement of either the terms or substance of the agency’s
 intended action or a description of the subjects and issues
 involved. The agency shall afford all interested persons not
 less than twenty days to submit data, views, or arguments in
 writing, and the regulatory analysis shall include the time
 when, the place where, and the manner in which interested
 persons may do so. The agency shall give interested persons
 an opportunity to make oral presentation on the regulatory
 analysis. The opportunity for oral presentation shall be held
 at least twenty days after publication of its time and place in
 the Iowa administrative bulletin.
    Sec. 10. Section 17A.4A, subsection 6, Code 2024, is amended
 by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 11. Section 17A.6, subsection 3, Code 2024, is amended
 to read as follows:
    3. An agency that adopts standards by reference to
 another publication shall deliver a printed copy of post
 the publication, or the relevant part of the publication,
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 containing the standards to the administrative code editor who
 shall deposit the copy in the state law library which shall
 make it available for inspection and reference on the agency’s
 internet site. The agency may instead deposit a printed copy
 of the publication, or the relevant part of the publication, in
 the state law library directly An agency shall not post a link
 for this purpose to an internet site that is not maintained by
 the agency. If a posted publication or part of a publication
 varies from the publication or part adopted by reference as
 described in subsection 5, the adoption by reference described
 in subsection 5 shall control. This subsection does not apply
 to a publication that is a federal statute or regulation.
    Sec. 12. Section 17A.7, subsection 2, Code 2024, is amended
 to read as follows:
    2. Beginning July January 1, 2012 2027, over each five-year
 period of time, an each agency shall conduct an ongoing and
 comprehensive review of all of the agency’s rules. The goal of
 the review is the identification and elimination of all rules
 of the agency that are outdated, redundant, or inconsistent or
 incompatible with statute or its own rules or those of other
 agencies. An Over each five-year period of time, an agency
 shall commence its review by developing a plan of review in
 consultation with major stakeholders and constituent groups
 perform a retrospective analysis that includes a comprehensive
 evaluation and rigorous cost-benefit analysis of each existing
 chapter of rules to determine whether the benefits the rules
 are intended to achieve are being realized, whether those
 benefits justify the costs imposed by the rules, and whether
 there are less restrictive alternatives to accomplish those
 benefits. When the agency completes the five-year review of
 the agency’s own rules, the agency shall provide a written
 summary of the results to the administrative rules coordinator
 and the administrative rules review committee. The summary
 shall include all of the following for each chapter of rules:
    a. The intended benefits of the rules and if the benefits
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 are being achieved.
    b. The costs imposed by the rules and if the costs are
 justified by the benefits identified in paragraph “a”.
    c. Less restrictive alternatives to the rules and an
 analysis of how other states regulate the activities addressed
 by the chapter.
    Sec. 13. Section 17A.7, Code 2024, is amended by adding the
 following new subsection:
    NEW SUBSECTION. 3. a. Each chapter of rules is rescinded
 five years after the date on which the chapter as a whole
 became effective. A chapter rescinded in this manner ceases
 to be effective as of the date of rescission. Before or after
 such rescission occurs, the agency that adopted the chapter
 may adopt the chapter anew after completing a retrospective
 analysis as described in subsection 2. Such adoption shall be
 subject to this chapter. An agency adopting a chapter anew
 as described in this subsection shall do so from a zero base.
 Adoption of a chapter anew as described in this subsection
 shall not include notation in a rulemaking document published
 in the Iowa administrative bulletin of additions to or
 deletions from the language of the prior chapter. For purposes
 of this subsection, “zero base” means adoption of a chapter
 anew without merely adopting the prior language of the chapter
 and without any presumption in favor of utilizing the prior
 language when the chapter is adopted anew.
    b. The effective date of adoption, amendment, or rescission
 of individual rules or portions of rules in a chapter, and the
 date of any changes to the chapter or rules or portions of
 rules in the chapter pursuant to section 2B.13, shall not be
 considered when determining the effective date of the chapter
 as a whole for purposes of this subsection. The date of
 rescission of a chapter under paragraph “a” shall not be altered
 if such date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.
    c. (1) If a chapter has been rescinded under this
 subsection, the agency that adopted the chapter shall notify
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 the administrative code editor in writing of the rescission.
 The administrative rules coordinator may notify the
 administrative code editor in writing on behalf of the agency.
    (2) As soon as practicable after receiving such
 notification, the administrative code editor shall publish
 notice of the rescission in the Iowa administrative bulletin
 and, no sooner than two weeks after such publication, remove
 the chapter from the Iowa administrative code.
    d. When a chapter of rules becoming effective as a whole is
 published in the Iowa administrative code, the administrative
 code editor shall include the next rescission date of the
 chapter, as provided in this subsection, with the chapter.
    e. For a chapter of rules that most recently became
 effective as a whole prior to January 1, 2023, the effective
 date of the chapter shall be deemed January 1, 2023, for
 purposes of this subsection. For a chapter that most recently
 became effective as a whole on or after January 1, 2023, the
 date of rescission pursuant to this subsection shall be based
 on the most recent effective date of the chapter as a whole.
    Sec. 14. Section 17A.19, subsection 10, paragraphs b, c, l,
 and m, Code 2024, are amended to read as follows:
    b. Beyond the authority explicitly delegated to the agency
 by any provision of law or in violation of any provision of
 law.
    c. Based upon an erroneous interpretation of a provision of
 law whose interpretation has not clearly explicitly been vested
 by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency.
    l. Based upon an irrational, illogical, or wholly
 unjustifiable interpretation of a provision of law whose
 interpretation has clearly explicitly been vested by a
 provision of law in the discretion of the agency.
    m. Based upon an irrational, illogical, or wholly
 unjustifiable application of law to fact that has clearly
 explicitly been vested by a provision of law in the discretion
 of the agency.
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    Sec. 15. Section 17A.19, subsection 11, paragraphs a, b, and
 c, Code 2024, are amended to read as follows:
    a. Shall not give any deference to the view of the agency
 with respect to whether particular matters have been explicitly
 vested by a provision of law in the discretion of the agency.
    b. Should not give any deference to the view of the
 agency with respect to particular matters that have not been
 explicitly vested by a provision of law in the discretion of
 the agency.
    c. Shall give appropriate deference to the view of the
 agency with respect to particular matters that have been
 explicitly vested by a provision of law in the discretion of
 the agency.
    Sec. 16. Section 17A.23, subsections 3 and 4, Code 2024, are
 amended to read as follows:
    3. a. An agency shall have only that authority or
 discretion explicitly delegated to or explicitly conferred
 upon the agency by law and shall not expand or enlarge its
 authority or discretion beyond the powers explicitly delegated
 to or explicitly conferred upon the agency. Unless otherwise
 specifically explicitly provided in statute, a grant of
 rulemaking authority shall be construed narrowly.
    b. Rulemaking authority is explicitly delegated to or
 explicitly conferred on an agency as follows:
    (1) An agency may adopt rules interpreting the provisions
 of any statute enforced or administered by the agency if a
 statute explicitly grants the agency rulemaking authority over
 the statutory provision; however, a rule is not valid if the
 rule exceeds the bounds of correct interpretation. All of the
 following apply to the adoption of a rule interpreting the
 provisions of a statute enforced or administered by an agency:
    (a) A statutory or nonstatutory provision containing a
 statement or declaration of legislative intent, purpose,
 findings, or policy does not delegate rulemaking authority to
 or confer rulemaking authority on the agency, or augment the
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 agency’s rulemaking authority, beyond the rulemaking authority
 that is explicitly delegated to or explicitly conferred on the
 agency by a statute.
    (b) A statutory provision describing the agency’s general
 powers or duties does not delegate rulemaking authority to
 or confer rulemaking authority on the agency, or augment the
 agency’s rulemaking authority, beyond the rulemaking authority
 that is explicitly delegated to or explicitly conferred on the
 agency by a statute.
    (c) A statutory provision containing a specific standard,
 requirement, or threshold does not delegate to or confer on the
 agency the authority to adopt, enforce, or administer a rule
 that contains a standard, requirement, or threshold that is
 more restrictive than the standard, requirement, or threshold
 contained in the statutory provision.
    (2) An agency may prescribe forms and procedures in
 connection with any statute enforced or administered by the
 agency if the agency considers such prescription necessary to
 effectuate the purpose of the statute, but this subparagraph
 does not authorize the imposition of a substantive requirement
 in connection with a form or procedure.
    (3) An agency authorized to exercise discretion in decidin