§ 205. Standing committees; administrative rulemaking delegation

(a) Whenever a standing committee introduces or amends proposed legislation which delegates rulemaking authority to a State agency, the committee shall express in the legislation and, to the greatest extent possible, the intent of the legislation and the scope of the rulemaking authority being delegated. For all such proposed legislation, the committee shall make a determination, and express such determination in the legislation, as to whether such rulemaking delegation contemplates the adoption of routine technical rules or major substantive rules.

(b) For the purposes of this section:

(1) “Major substantive rules” means rules that require the exercise of significant agency discretion or interpretation in drafting, or, because of their subject matter or anticipated impact, are reasonably expected to result in a significant increase in the cost of doing business, a significant reduction in property values, the loss or significant reduction of government benefits or services, the imposition of State mandates on units of local governments, or other serious burdens on the public or units of local government.

(2) “Routine technical rules” means procedural rules that establish standards of practice or procedure for the conduct of business with or before an agency, and any other rules that are not major substantive rules. Routine technical rules include forms prescribed by an agency, but do not include fees established by an agency, except fees established or amended by agency rule that are below a cap or within a range established by statute. (Added 2001, No. 149 (Adj. Sess.), § 54.)