Florida Senate - 2015                                    SB 7056
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Governmental Oversight and Accountability
       
       
       
       
       
       585-02716-15                                          20157056__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to administrative procedures; amending
    3         s. 120.54, F.S.; revising the deadline to propose
    4         rules implementing new laws; amending s. 120.74, F.S.;
    5         revising requirements for the annual review of agency
    6         rules; providing procedures for preparing and
    7         publishing regulatory plans; specifying requirements
    8         for such plans; requiring publication by specified
    9         dates of notices of rule development and of proposed
   10         rules necessary to implement new laws; providing for
   11         suspension of an agency’s rulemaking authority under
   12         certain circumstances; providing for applicability;
   13         repealing s. 120.7455, F.S., relating to legislative
   14         survey of regulatory impacts; providing for rescission
   15         of the suspension of rulemaking authority made under
   16         s. 120.745, F.S.; providing effective dates.
   17          
   18  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   19  
   20         Section 1. Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section
   21  120.54, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   22         120.54 Rulemaking.—
   23         (1) GENERAL PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO ALL RULES OTHER THAN
   24  EMERGENCY RULES.—
   25         (b) Whenever an act of the Legislature is enacted which
   26  requires implementation of the act by rules of an agency within
   27  the executive branch of state government, such rules shall be
   28  drafted and formally proposed as provided in this section within
   29  the times provided in s. 120.74(5) and (6) 180 days after the
   30  effective date of the act, unless the act provides otherwise.
   31         Section 2. Section 120.74, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   32  read:
   33         (Substantial rewording of section. See
   34         s. 120.74, F.S., for present text.)
   35         120.74 Agency annual rulemaking and regulatory plans;
   36  reports.
   37         (1) REGULATORY PLAN.—By October 1 of each year, each agency
   38  shall prepare an implementation and rulemaking plan.
   39         (a) The plan must include a listing of each law enacted or
   40  amended during the previous 12 months which creates or modifies
   41  the duties or authority of the agency. If the Governor or the
   42  Attorney General provides a letter to the committee stating that
   43  a law affects all or most agencies, the agency may exclude the
   44  law from its plan. For each law listed by an agency under this
   45  paragraph, the plan must state:
   46         1. Whether the agency must adopt rules to implement the
   47  law.
   48         2. If rulemaking is necessary to implement the law:
   49         a. Whether a notice of rule development has been published
   50  and, if so, the citation to such notice in the Florida
   51  Administrative Register.
   52         b. The date by which the agency expects to publish the
   53  notice of proposed rule under s. 120.54(3)(a).
   54         3. If rulemaking is not necessary to implement the law, a
   55  concise written explanation of the reasons why the law may be
   56  implemented without rulemaking.
   57         (b) The plan must also include a listing of each law not
   58  otherwise listed pursuant to paragraph (a) which the agency
   59  expects to implement by rulemaking before the following July 1,
   60  except emergency rulemaking. For each law listed under this
   61  paragraph, the plan must state whether the rulemaking is
   62  intended to simplify, clarify, increase efficiency, improve
   63  coordination with other agencies, reduce regulatory costs, or
   64  delete obsolete, unnecessary, or redundant rules.
   65         (c) The plan must include any desired update to the prior
   66  year’s regulatory plan or supplement published pursuant to
   67  subsection (8). If, in a prior year, a law was identified under
   68  this paragraph or under subparagraph (a)1. as a law requiring
   69  rulemaking to implement but a notice of proposed rule has not
   70  been published:
   71         1. The agency may identify and again list such law, noting
   72  the applicable notice of rule development by citation to the
   73  Florida Administrative Register; or
   74         2. If the agency has subsequently determined that
   75  rulemaking is not necessary to implement the law, the agency may
   76  identify such law, reference the citation to the applicable
   77  notice of rule development in the Florida Administrative
   78  Register, and provide a concise written explanation of the
   79  reason why the law may be implemented without rulemaking.
   80         (d) The plan must include a certification executed on
   81  behalf of the agency by both the agency head, or, if the agency
   82  head is a collegial body, the chair or equivalent presiding
   83  officer; and the agency general counsel, or, if the agency does
   84  not have a general counsel, the individual acting as principal
   85  legal advisor to the agency head. The certification must:
   86         1. Verify that the persons executing the certification have
   87  reviewed the plan.
   88         2. Verify that the agency regularly reviews all of its
   89  rules and identify the period during which all rules have most
   90  recently been reviewed to determine if the rules remain
   91  consistent with the agency’s rulemaking authority and the laws
   92  implemented.
   93         (2) PUBLICATION AND DELIVERY TO THE COMMITTEE.—
   94         (a) By October 1 of each year, each agency shall:
   95         1. Publish its regulatory plan on its website or on another
   96  state website established for publication of administrative law
   97  records. A clearly labeled hyperlink to the current plan must be
   98  included on the agency’s primary website homepage.
   99         2. Electronically deliver to the committee a copy of the
  100  certification required in paragraph (1)(d).
  101         3. Publish in the Florida Administrative Register a notice
  102  identifying the date of publication of the agency’s regulatory
  103  plan. The notice must include a hyperlink or website address
  104  providing direct access to the published plan.
  105         (b) To satisfy the requirements of paragraph (a), a board
  106  established under s. 20.165(4), and any other board or
  107  commission receiving administrative support from the Department
  108  of Business and Professional Regulation, may coordinate with the
  109  Department of Business and Professional Regulation, and a board
  110  established under s. 20.43(3)(g) may coordinate with the
  111  Department of Health, for inclusion of the board’s or
  112  commission’s plan and notice of publication in the coordinating
  113  department’s plan and notice and for the delivery of the
  114  required documentation to the committee.
  115         (c) A regulatory plan prepared under subsection (1) and any
  116  regulatory plan published under this chapter before July 1,
  117  2014, shall be maintained at an active website for 10 years
  118  after the date of initial publication on the agency’s website or
  119  another state website.
  120         (3) INCLUSION IN LEGISLATIVE BUDGET REQUEST.—In addition to
  121  the requirements of s. 216.023 and pursuant to s. 216.351, a
  122  copy of the most recent certification executed under paragraph
  123  (1)(d), clearly designated as such, shall be included as part of
  124  the agency’s legislative budget request.
  125         (4) DEPARTMENT REVIEW OF BOARD PLAN.—By October 15 of each
  126  year:
  127         (a) For each board established under s. 20.165(4) and any
  128  other board or commission receiving administrative support from
  129  the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, the
  130  Department of Business and Professional Regulation shall file
  131  with the committee a certification that the department has
  132  reviewed each board’s and commission’s regulatory plan. A
  133  certification may relate to more than one board or commission.
  134         (b) For each board established under s. 20.43(3)(g), the
  135  Department of Health shall file with the committee a
  136  certification that the department has reviewed the board’s
  137  regulatory plan. A certification may relate to more than one
  138  board.
  139         (5) DEADLINE FOR RULE DEVELOPMENT.—By November 1 of each
  140  year, each agency shall publish a notice of rule development
  141  under s. 120.54(2) for each law identified in the agency’s
  142  regulatory plan pursuant to subparagraph (1)(a)1. for which
  143  rulemaking is necessary to implement but for which the agency
  144  did not report the publication of a notice of rule development
  145  under subparagraph (1)(a)2.
  146         (6) DEADLINE TO PUBLISH PROPOSED RULE.—For each law for
  147  which implementing rulemaking is necessary as identified in the
  148  agency’s plan pursuant to subparagraph (1)(a)1. or subparagraph
  149  (1)(c)1., the agency shall publish a notice of proposed rule
  150  pursuant to s. 120.54(3)(a) by April 1 of the year following the
  151  deadline for the regulatory plan. This deadline may be extended
  152  if the agency publishes a notice of extension in the Florida
  153  Administrative Register identifying each rulemaking proceeding
  154  for which an extension is being noticed by citation to the
  155  applicable notice of rule development as published in the
  156  Florida Administrative Register. An extension shall expire on
  157  October 1 after the April 1 deadline, provided that the
  158  regulatory plan due on October 1 may further extend the
  159  rulemaking proceeding by identification pursuant to subparagraph
  160  (1)(c)1. or conclude the rulemaking proceeding by identification
  161  pursuant to subparagraph (1)(c)2. A published regulatory plan
  162  may be corrected at any time to accomplish the purpose of
  163  extending or concluding an affected rulemaking proceeding and is
  164  deemed corrected as of the October 1 due date. Upon publication
  165  of a correction, the agency shall publish in the Florida
  166  Administrative Register a notice of the date of the correction
  167  identifying the affected rulemaking proceeding by applicable
  168  citation to the Florida Administrative Register.
  169         (7) CERTIFICATIONS.—Each agency shall file a certification
  170  with the committee upon compliance with subsection (5), upon
  171  filing a notice under subsection (6) of either a deadline
  172  extension or a regulatory plan correction, and upon the
  173  completion of an act that terminates a suspension under
  174  subsection (9). A certification may relate to more than one
  175  notice or contemporaneous act. The date or dates of compliance
  176  shall be noted in each certification.
  177         (8) SUPPLEMENTING THE REGULATORY PLAN.—After publication of
  178  the regulatory plan, the agency shall supplement the plan within
  179  30 days after a bill becomes a law if the law is enacted before
  180  the next regular session of the Legislature and the law
  181  substantively modifies the agency’s specifically delegated legal
  182  duties, unless the law affects all or most state agencies as
  183  identified by letter to the committee from the Governor or the
  184  Attorney General. The supplement must include the information
  185  required in paragraph (1)(a) and shall be published as required
  186  in subsection (2), but no certification or delivery to the
  187  committee is required. The agency shall publish in the Florida
  188  Administrative Register notice of publication of the supplement,
  189  and include a hyperlink on its website or web address for direct
  190  access to the published supplement. For each law reported in the
  191  supplement, if rulemaking is necessary to implement the law, the
  192  agency shall publish a notice of rule development by the later
  193  of the date provided in subsection (5) or 60 days after the bill
  194  becomes a law, and a notice of proposed rule shall be published
  195  by the later of the date provided in subsection (6) or 120 days
  196  after the bill becomes a law. The proposed rule deadline may be
  197  extended to the following October 1 by notice as provided in
  198  subsection (6). If such proposed rule has not been filed by
  199  October 1, a law included in a supplement shall also be included
  200  in the next annual plan pursuant to subsection (1).
  201         (9) FAILURE TO COMPLY.—If an agency fails to comply with a
  202  requirement of paragraph (2)(a) or subsection (6), the entire
  203  rulemaking authority delegated to the agency by the Legislature
  204  under any statute or law shall be suspended automatically as of
  205  the due date of the required action and shall remain suspended
  206  until the date the agency completes the required act or until
  207  the end of the next regular session of the Legislature,
  208  whichever occurs first.
  209         (a) During a period of suspension under this subsection,
  210  the agency has no authority to file rules for adoption under s.
  211  120.54, but may complete any action required by this section and
  212  may conduct public hearings that were noticed before the period
  213  of suspension.
  214         (b) A suspension under this subsection does not authorize
  215  an agency to adopt or apply a statement defined as a rule under
  216  s. 120.52(16) unless the statement was filed for adoption under
  217  s. 120.54(3) before the suspension.
  218         (c) A suspension under this subsection tolls the time
  219  requirements under s. 120.54 for filing a rule for adoption in a
  220  rulemaking proceeding initiated by the agency before the date of
  221  the suspension. The time requirements shall resume on the date
  222  the suspension ends.
  223         (d) This subsection does not suspend the adoption of
  224  emergency rules under s. 120.54(4) or rulemaking necessary to
  225  ensure the state’s compliance with federal law.
  226         (10) EDUCATIONAL UNITS.—This section does not apply to
  227  educational units.
  228         Section 3. Section 120.7455, Florida Statutes, is repealed.
  229         Section 4. Effective upon this act becoming a law, any
  230  suspension of rulemaking authority under s. 120.745, Florida
  231  Statutes is rescinded. This section does not affect any
  232  restriction, suspension, or prohibition of rulemaking authority
  233  under any other provision of law.
  234         Section 5. Except as otherwise expressly provided in this
  235  act and except for this section, which shall take effect upon
  236  this act becoming a law, this act shall take effect July 1,
  237  2015.