Legislature Considers Rulemaking Revisions
Florida’s administrative rulemaking process has received considerable attention in recent months. First, the legislature overrode a veto by former Governor Charlie Crist on a bill aimed at reducing costly regulations. New Governor Rick Scott then followed with an Executive Order directing all gubernatorial agencies to suspend rulemaking while pending rules can be evaluated for their impact on job creation.
For the upcoming 2011 legislative session, the legislature is expected to consider two bills arising from its 2010 override. HB 993 and SB 1382 would clarify the new requirements relating to legislative ratification of rules. If these bills become law, an agency will need to identify in its rulemaking notice whether the proposed rule will require legislative ratification before they become effective. In addition, current law specifying the timeframes in which proposed rules may become effective will be modified to clarify that some types of rules can become effective only when ratified by the legislature.
The bills also reduce the period of time to challenge a proposed rule following an agency’s release of its statement of estimated regulatory costs. Current laws gives affected parties 44 days, but this would be reduced to 20 days if the pending bills move forward.