ASSEMBLY, No. 646
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 1996 SESSION
By Assemblymen IMPREVEDUTO and KELLY
An Act concerning public hearings on proposed rules and amending P.L.1968, c.410.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 4 of P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-4) is amended to read as follows:
4. (a) Prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any rule, except as may be otherwise provided, the agency shall:
(1) Give at least 30 days' notice of its intended action. The notice shall include a statement of either the terms or substance of the intended action or a description of the subjects and issues involved, and the time when, the place where, and the manner in which interested persons may present their views thereon. The notice shall be mailed to all persons who have made timely requests of the agency for advance notice of its rule-making proceedings and in addition to other public notice required by law shall be published in the New Jersey Register and shall be filed with the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the General Assembly. The notice shall be additionally publicized in such manner as the agency deems most appropriate in order to inform those persons most likely to be affected by or interested in the intended action. Methods that may be employed include publication of the notice in newspapers of general circulation or in trade, industry, governmental or professional publications, distribution of press releases to the news media and posting of notices in appropriate locations;
(2) Prepare for public distribution at the time the notice appears in the Register a statement setting forth a summary of the proposed rule, a clear and concise explanation of the purpose and effect of the rule, the specific legal authority under which its adoption is authorized, a description of the expected socio-economic impact of the rule, and a regulatory flexibility analysis, or the statement of finding that a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required, as provided in section 4 of P.L. 1986, c. 169 (C. 52:14B-19);
(3) Afford all interested persons reasonable opportunity to submit data, views, or arguments, orally or in writing. The agency shall consider fully all written and oral submissions respecting the proposed rule.
The agency shall conduct a public hearing on the proposed rule [at the request of a committee of the Legislature, or a governmental agency or subdivision, provided such request is made to the agency within 15 days following publication of the proposed rule in the Register. The agency] and shall provide at least 15 days' notice of such hearing, which shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of subsection (g) of this section;
(4) Prepare for public distribution a report listing all parties offering written or oral submissions concerning the rule, summarizing the content of the submissions and providing the agency's response to the data, views and arguments contained in the submissions.
(b) A rule prescribing the organization of an agency may be adopted at any time without prior notice or hearing. Such rules shall be effective upon filing in accordance with section 5 of this act or upon any later date specified by the agency.
(c) If an agency finds that an imminent peril to the public health, safety, or welfare requires adoption of a rule upon fewer than 30 days' notice and states in writing its reasons for that finding, and the Governor concurs in writing that an imminent peril exists, it may proceed without prior notice or hearing, or upon any abbreviated notice and hearing that it finds practicable, to adopt the rule. The rule shall be effective for a period of not more than 60 days unless each house of the Legislature passes a resolution concurring in its extension for a period of not more than 60 additional days. The rule shall not be effective for more than 120 days unless repromulgated in accordance with normal rule-making procedures.
(d) No rule hereafter adopted is valid unless adopted in substantial compliance with this act. A proceeding to contest any rule on the ground of noncompliance with the procedural requirements of this act shall be commenced within one year from the effective date of the rule.
(e) An agency may file a notice of intent with respect to a proposed rule-making proceeding with the Office of Administrative Law, for publication in the New Jersey Register at any time prior to the formal notice of action required in subsection (a) of this section. The notice shall be for the purpose of eliciting the views of interested parties on an action prior to the filing of a formal rule proposal. An agency may use informal conferences and consultations as means of obtaining the viewpoints and advice of interested persons with respect to contemplated rule-making. An agency may also appoint committees of experts or interested persons or representatives of the general public to advise it with respect to any contemplated rule-making.
(f) An interested person may petition an agency to promulgate, amend or repeal any rule. Each agency shall prescribe the form for the petition and the procedure for the submission, consideration and disposition of the petition. The petition shall state clearly and concisely:
(1) The substance or nature of the rule-making which is requested;
(2) The reasons for the request and the petitioner's interest in the request;
(3) References to the authority of the agency to take the requested action.
Within 30 days following receipt of any such petition, the agency shall either deny the petition, giving a written statement of its reasons, or shall proceed to act on the petition, which action may include the initiation of a formal rule-making proceeding. Upon the receipt of the petition, the agency shall file a notice stating the name of the petitioner and the nature of the request with the Office of Administrative Law for publication in the New Jersey Register. Notice of formal agency action on such petition shall also be filed with the division for publication in the Register.
(g) All public hearings shall be conducted by a hearing officer, who may be an official of the agency, a member of its staff, a person on assignment from another agency, a person from the Office of Administrative Law assigned pursuant to subsection o. of section 5 of P.L.1978, c.67 (C.52:14F-5o.) or an independent contractor. The hearing officer shall have the responsibility to make recommendations to the agency regarding the adoption, amendment or repeal of a rule. These recommendations shall be made public. At the beginning of each hearing, or series of hearings, the agency, if it has made a proposal, shall present a summary of the factual information on which its proposal is based, and shall respond to questions posed by any interested party. Hearings shall be conducted at such times and in locations which shall afford interested parties the opportunity to attend. A verbatim transcript of each hearing shall be maintained, and copies of the transcript shall be available to the public at no more than the actual cost.
(cf: P.L.1986, c.169, s.7)
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
The purpose of this bill is to require that a public hearing be held by a State agency prior to the promulgation of a proposed rule or regulation by that agency pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure Act."
Under current law, an agency must conduct a public hearing on a proposed rule if such hearing has been requested by a committee of the Legislature or a governmental agency or subdivision, provided the request is made within 15 days after the proposed rule is published in the New Jersey Register. Except for such requests, agencies are not required to provide for public hearings as part of the rulemaking process unless required to do so by other statutory authorities.
Requires public hearing be held prior to promulgation of a proposed rule by a State agency.