BP BHEAD INT H

AN ACT Relating to review of administrative rules; adding new sections to chapter 19.85 RCW; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to ensure that administrative rules currently in effect impose the least possible economic burden on small businesses and that all administrative rules adopted by state agencies are periodically reviewed so that rules that are no longer necessary are eliminated and that rules can be modified to reduce their economic impacts on small businesses. The legislature finds that existing and new administrative rules do and can impose significant economic burdens on small businesses and such economic burdens can restrict the ability of small businesses to expand, create jobs, and strengthen the state's economy. The legislature is very concerned about the failure of state agencies to carry out the review of their administrative rules as required by RCW 19.85.050 by June 10, 1992, and therefore the legislature renews the demand that state agencies carry out a review as provided in this act of all existing administrative rules that have an economic impact on small businesses.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. By July 1, 1996, each state agency that administers a rule adopted before January 1, 1989, and that imposes requirements or imposes costs on small businesses shall either:

(1) Repeal the rule in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW;

(2) Have completed amending and adopting the rule as amended in accordance with chapter 34.05 RCW; or

(3) Have completed a rule review as provided in section 3 of this act.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. An administrative rule review consists of the following:

(1) The agency shall prepare an administrative rule review statement and file the statement with the code reviser for publication in the state register. For the purposes of this section, a rule may include any number of sections of the Washington Administrative Code if all of the sections deal with the same subject matter. For example, an agency may review all of their rules dealing with the same subject matter, i.e., first-aid equipment and requirements, hazardous waste storage, rules governing the application of a tax on a particular type of industry, and so forth. The statement must contain each of the following elements:

(a) A statement indicating the reason the agency finds there is a continued need for the rule;

(b) A small business economic impact statement for the rule, prepared in accordance with this chapter. However, in the case of a rule that has been adopted to conform with federal regulations and that does not impose any requirements that are more stringent or different than the federal regulation, the agency may cite the federal regulation to which the rule is designed to conform, and the agency need not prepare a small business economic impact statement nor meet the requirements of subsections (1)(c), (2), or (3) of this section;

(c) For any rules that the agency proposes to maintain in effect, an economic impact mitigation statement for the rule that indicates what mitigation measures that are both legal and feasible that the agency has considered to reduce the economic impact of the rule on small businesses, and why the mitigation measures are not being proposed as adopted and which are an amendment to the rule.

(2) The agency issuing the rule review statement shall solicit public comments for not less than thirty days from the date the notice appears in the state register and may hold a public hearing not less than twenty days after the rule review statement has been published in the state register on the contents of the rule review statement prepared by the agency, and solicit proposals to mitigate the economic impact of the rule on small businesses.

(3) Not less that thirty days after the public hearing and after consideration of written comments received before and within five calendar days after the public hearing, the agency shall file with the code reviser a written statement to be published in the state register of its:

(a) Finding that the rule shall continue in effect without change and that no mitigation option exists that is legal and feasible to reduce the economic impact of the rule; or

(b) Decision to repeal or amend the rule before July 1, 1996.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) Any person may file a petition for a declaratory judgment provided by chapter 34.05 RCW, objecting to the finding by an agency that a rule has been adopted solely to conform to a federal regulation and that the rule is not more stringent nor does it impose different requirements than imposed by the federal regulation. If the court finds that a rule is not adopted solely to conform with a federal regulation but that it imposes more stringent or different requirements on small businesses, the agency must meet the requirements of sections 2 and 3 of this act or the rule becomes null and void and unenforceable.

(2) Any person may file a petition for a declaratory judgment to invalidate a rule as provided by chapter 34.05 RCW, objecting to the decision of an agency that the agency cannot amend a rule to implement a legal and feasible reduction in the economic impacts of a rule on small businesses. The court shall find for the petitioner if the agency's position is not substantially justified.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. Failure of an agency to meet the requirements of sections 2 and 3 of this act for any rule it administers that was adopted before January 1, 1989, and that imposes economic costs on small businesses causes that rule to be null and void and unenforceable after July 1, 1996.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. No rule adopted after July 1, 1993, is valid unless the rule contains a termination date not more than sixty calendar months after the date of adoption of the rule. On the termination date the rule becomes invalid and of no force and effect. An agency may readopt the rule at any time and may reestablish the termination date, not to exceed sixty months from the date of readoption. An agency that readopts a rule without change is not required to prepare a small business impact statement as set forth in this chapter.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 7. Sections 2 through 6 of this act are each added to chapter 19.85 RCW.