Posted: | January 21, 2021 04:52 PM |
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From: | Senator John R. Gordner |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Providing Additional Legislative Oversight of the Regulatory Review Process |
In the near future, I will be reintroducing legislation which will provide additional legislative oversight of the regulatory review process. Currently, when an agency proposes regulations, the agency is required to deliver the proposed regulations to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) and to the legislative committees of jurisdiction on the same day. The President Pro Tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives designate which committees have oversight over which state agencies for the purpose of reviewing regulations promulgated by those agencies. This legislation will require that within five days of receipt of proposed regulations, the Chair of the committee must provide a paper or electronic copy of the proposed regulations to each committee member for their review. The Chair will also be empowered to hold hearings on the proposed regulations or to call a meeting to seek to have the committee, by a majority vote of the members, adopt official comments of the committee. Each member of the committee will still have the ability to individually submit comments to the Chair, IRRC and/or the agency. When the agency submits final form regulations, the Chair of the committee will again be required to distribute a copy of the regulations to each member of the committee within five days. Many of the current provisions related to review of final form regulations will not be altered, but the following changes will be made to increase legislative oversight:
I introduced similar legislation during the 2015-2016 Legislative Session that was passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, but was ultimately vetoed by Governor Tom Wolf. With that in mind, I made modifications to the legislation to address some of the concerns Governor Wolf raised related to the promulgation of regulations when the General Assembly is not in session for extended periods of time. This legislation was introduced in the 2019-2020 as Senate Bill 398 and was passed by the Senate. It did not receive consideration in the House of Representatives. Cosponsors of Senate Bill 398 were Sens. Brooks, Browne, Martin, Phillips-Hill, Stefano, J. Ward and K. Ward. Thank you for your consideration and please feel free to contact my office if you have any questions regarding this proposed legislation. |
Introduced as SB426