Virginia Code 2.2-4007.01: Notice of intended regulatory action; public hearing.
A. In the case of all regulations, except those regulations exempted by § 2.2-4002, 2.2-4006, 2.2-4011, or 2.2-4012.1, an agency shall (i) provide the Registrar of Regulations with a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action that describes the subject matter and intent of the planned regulation and (ii) allow at least 30 days for public comment, to include an on-line public comment forum on the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, after publication of the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 2.2-4007.01
- Agency: means any authority, instrumentality, officer, board or other unit of the state government empowered by the basic laws to make regulations or decide cases. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
- Hearing: means agency processes other than those informational or factual inquiries of an informal nature provided in §§ Virginia Code 2.2-4001
- Registrar: means the Registrar of Regulations employed as provided in § Virginia Code 2.2-4001
- regulation: means any statement of general application, having the force of law, affecting the rights or conduct of any person, adopted by an agency in accordance with the authority conferred on it by applicable basic laws. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
- Virginia Regulatory Town Hall: means the website operated by the Department of Planning and Budget, which has online public comment forums and displays information about regulatory actions under consideration in the Commonwealth and sends this information to registered public users. See Virginia Code 2.2-4001
Whenever a Virginia statutory change necessitates a change to, or repeal of, all or a portion of a regulation or the adoption of a new regulation, the agency shall file a Notice of Intended Regulatory Action with the Registrar within 120 days of such law’s effective date.
An agency shall not file proposed regulations with the Registrar until the public comment period on the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action has closed.
B. Agencies shall state in the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action whether they plan to hold a public hearing on the proposed regulation after it is published. Agencies shall hold such public hearings if required by basic law. If the agency states an intent to hold a public hearing on the proposed regulation in the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, then it shall hold the public hearing. If the agency states in its Notice of Intended Regulatory Action that it does not plan to hold a hearing on the proposed regulation, then no public hearing is required unless, prior to completion of the comment period specified in the Notice of Intended Regulatory Action, (i) the Governor directs the agency to hold a public hearing or (ii) the agency receives requests for a public hearing from at least 25 persons.