Requires administrative rules to conform to their enabling statutes; allows legislature to hear petitions for rulemaking under 91-6, HRS; automatically repeals certain administrative rules 180 days after the repeal of its enabling statute; expands the scope of the small business regulatory review board's biannual evaluation report.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

PART I

SECTION 1. Conforming the adoption, repeal, or amendment of an administrative rule to its related enabling statute is necessary. Ensuring that a proposed rule has a rational nexus to the law and conforms to the letter, spirit, and intent of the law before a public hearing is held will increase government efficiency by limiting the amount of valuable government time and resources that typically are spent to achieve conformity post-hearing.

The purpose of this part is to improve government efficiency by:

SECTION 2. Chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§91- Rulemaking considerations. (a) When adopting, amending, or repealing rules, agencies shall comply with:

(1) The requirements of this section;

(2) Consistent procedures required by other statutes; and

(3) Applicable federal mandates.

(d) After a public hearing has been held on any rule as required by section 91-3, the proposed rule shall not be adopted unless the head of the agency concurs that the proposed rule has a rational nexus to the law and conforms to the letter, spirit, and intent of the law."

SECTION 3. Section 91-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§91-6 Petition for adoption, amendment, or repeal of rules. Any interested person may petition [an agency] the legislature requesting the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any rule stating reasons therefor. [Each agency] The legislature shall adopt rules prescribing the form for the petitions and the procedure for their submission, consideration, and disposition. Upon submission of the petition, the [agency] legislature shall within thirty days either deny the petition in writing, stating its reasons for the denial or initiate proceedings in accordance with section 91-3."

PART II

SECTION 4. The repeal of rules for which their enabling or authorizing statute or ordinance has been repealed is a housekeeping matter that should not have to involve full rulemaking procedures. To improve government efficiency, the requirement that full rulemaking procedures be followed to repeal rules adopted pursuant to a statute or ordinance that has since been repealed should be eliminated, thereby ensuring that valuable government resources and time are not wasted.

The purpose of this part is to improve government efficiency by providing for the automatic repeal of administrative rules when their enabling statute or ordinance has been repealed.

SECTION 5. Chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§91- Automatic repeal of administrative rules. (a) Upon the repeal of a statute or ordinance, any administrative rule that has been adopted pursuant to the repealed statute or ordinance is automatically repealed, effective one hundred eighty days after the enabling statute or ordinance is repealed.

(b) This section shall not apply to an administrative rule, adopted pursuant to a statute or ordinance thereafter repealed, that is re-adopted by operation of law as a part of a transfer of functions from one department or agency to another department or agency."

PART III

SECTION 6. Section 201M-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (c) to read as follows:

"(c) The board may solicit testimony from the public regarding any report submitted by the agency under this section at a public meeting held pursuant to chapter 92. Upon consideration of any report submitted by an agency under this section and any public testimony, the small business regulatory review board shall submit an evaluation report to each regular session of the legislature in even-numbered years. The evaluation report shall include [an]:

The legislature may take such action in response to the report as it finds appropriate."

PART IV

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that part II shall apply retroactively to administrative rules adopted pursuant to statutes or ordinances that have been repealed prior to the effective date of this Act.