HOUSE BILL 310
48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008
INTRODUCED BY
Richard J. Berry
AN ACT
RELATING TO STATE REGULATIONS; REQUIRING REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENTS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION; DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 14-4-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 275, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-4-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the State Rules Act:
A. "agency" means any agency, board, commission, department, institution or officer of the state government except the judicial and legislative branches of the state government;
B. "person" includes individuals, associations, partnerships, companies, business trusts and corporations; [and]
C. "regulatory impact statement" means a report containing:
(1) a description of any person or classes of persons that would be affected by a proposed rule;
(2) an estimate of the negative and positive impacts, economic or otherwise, of a proposed rule on affected persons, classes of persons or the state budget;
(3) a comparison of the costs and benefits of a proposed rule to the costs and benefits of inaction;
(4) a determination of whether there are less costly or intrusive methods for achieving the purpose of the proposed rule; and
(5) a summary of public comments or other evidence submitted during rulemaking where a person disputes any portion of the agency's analysis in the regulatory impact statement;
[C.] D. "rule" means any rule, regulation, order, standard or statement of policy, including amendments thereto or repeals thereof, issued or promulgated by any agency and purporting to affect one or more agencies besides the agency issuing [such] the rule or to affect persons not members or employees of [such] the issuing agency. An order or decision or other document issued or promulgated in connection with the disposition of any case or agency decision upon a particular matter as applied to a specific set of facts shall not be deemed such a rule, nor shall it constitute specific adoption thereof by the agency. [Such term shall] "Rule" does not include rules relating to the management, confinement, discipline or release of inmates of any penal or charitable institution, the [Springer] New Mexico boys' school or the girls' welfare home [of] or to any hospital [nor to] or rules made relating to the management of any particular educational institution, whether elementary or otherwise, [nor to] or rules made relating to admissions, discipline, supervision, expulsion or graduation of students therefrom; and
E. "rulemaking" means the process for adopting, promulgating, amending or repealing a rule."
Section 2. Section 14-4-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 275, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-4-3. FORMAT OF RULES--FILING--DISTRIBUTION.--[Each] An agency promulgating [any] a rule shall place the rule in the format and style required by [rule of] the records center and shall deliver one original paper copy and one electronic copy to the records center. The records center shall [note thereon] record the date and hour of filing. The records center shall maintain the original copy as a permanent record open to public inspection during office hours and shall have the rule published in a timely manner in the New Mexico register and compiled into the New Mexico Administrative Code. At the time of filing, an agency may submit to the records center an additional paper copy, for annotation with the date and hour of filing, to be returned to the agency."
Section 3. Section 14-4-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 275, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
"14-4-5. FILING AND COMPLIANCE REQUIRED FOR VALIDITY.--No rule shall be valid or enforceable until [it is] the rule and any required regulatory impact statement are filed with the records center and published in the New Mexico register as provided by the State Rules Act. Unless a later date is otherwise provided by law, the effective date of a rule shall be the date of publication in the New Mexico register. Emergency regulations may go into effect immediately upon filing with the records center, but shall be effective no more than thirty days unless they are published in the New Mexico register."
Section 4. A new section of the State Rules Act is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT--REQUIRED.--
A. Before an agency promulgates a rule, the agency shall prepare a regulatory impact statement if the proposed rule has an economic impact of more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) on affected persons, classes of persons or the state budget.
B. If the economic impact of the proposed rule is twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) or less, the agency shall not be required to prepare a regulatory impact statement unless, at any time during rulemaking, a person files a written request for a regulatory impact statement with the agency promulgating the proposed rule.
C. If an agency is unable to complete all or part of the regulatory impact statement due to hardship, including lack of agency resources or unavailable data, the agency shall indicate the reason for the hardship in lieu of all or part of the regulatory impact statement. An agency required to submit a regulatory impact statement shall prepare the regulatory impact statement in the format and style required by the records center. The agency shall deliver one original paper copy and one electronic copy to the records center. The records center shall note the date and hour of filing.
D. The records center shall maintain the original copy as a permanent record open to public inspection during office hours and shall have the regulatory impact statement published to accompany the proposed rule in the New Mexico register. However, the regulatory impact statement shall not be compiled into the New Mexico Administrative Code.
E. By December 31 of each year, the state records administrator shall provide an annual cumulative summary of regulatory impact statements filed with the records center to the governor, president pro tempore of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives for distribution to the appropriate standing or interim legislative committees."
Section 5. APPROPRIATION.--One hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the records center for expenditure in fiscal year 2009 for costs related to maintaining, publishing and distributing the regulatory impact statements of each agency. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the general fund.
Section 6. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public peace, health and safety that this act take effect immediately.
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