Providing for delinquency fees for executive branch agencies for untimely rulemaking in certain circumstances and including effective date and retroactive applicability provisions

4, subsection 9, if a provision of an Act of the general assembly expressly requires rulemaking by an executive branch agency, or if another statute that governs or is directly related to a provision of an Act of the general assembly expressly requires rulemaking by the agency, the agency must, within 180 days of the effective date of the provision, submit a notice of intended action to commence the rulemaking or submit written notification explaining the delay to the administrative rules review committee (ARRC). This bill authorizes the ARRC, by a majority vote, to reject such a written notification for an Act of the general assembly that expressly requires rulemaking.4, subsection 9. If the ARRC takes either of these actions, the bill authorizes the ARRC, by a majority vote, to impose a delinquency fee on the agency of $1,000 per Act. The ARRC must provide a representative of the agency an opportunity to address the ARRC concerning the rejection or lack of submission before imposing such a fee and must notify the agency in writing of the amount of the fee and the Acts of the general assembly for which the fee was imposed. An agency must, no later than days after receiving written notice of a delinquency fee, take one of two specified actions. First, the agency may remit the amount of the fee to the treasurer of state for deposit in the general fund of the state. The agency shall only pay such remittance from funds available for salaries, support, maintenance, or other administrative costs of the agency. The agency shall not pay such remittance from funds allocated for any program or nonadministrative duty or function of the agency. Second, the agency may submit a notice of intended action to commence the rulemaking and provide written notification to the ARRC that the submission was made. The bill defines “provision of an Act of the general assembly that expressly requires rulemaking” as a provision within the text of an Act of the general assembly that explicitly requires rulemaking, without reference to any statutory provision that is not included in the text of the Act. The bill takes effect upon enactment and applies retroactively to January 11, 2021.