By: West S.B. No. 95
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the procedures under which a state agency considers
legislative intent during the process of implementing certain
legislative enactments.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 322, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 322.015 to read as follows:
Sec. 322.015. LETTERS OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT. (a) The
board may issue a letter to a state governmental entity clarifying
or explaining meaning or legislative intent on matters relating to:
(1) the General Appropriations Act; or
(2) another legislative enactment that makes an
appropriation or qualifies, details, limits, or restricts an
appropriation.
(b) A state governmental entity, in interpreting a
provision of law described by Subsection (a), is entitled to rely on
a letter of legislative intent issued by the board under this
section.
SECTION 2. Section 2001.032, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 2001.032. CONSIDERATION OF LEGISLATIVE INTENT
[REVIEW]. (a) In this section, a reference to the law under which
a rule is or would be adopted includes a reference to the law that
authorizes a state agency to adopt the rule and to the law that the
rule would implement or enforce.
(b) Before a state agency gives notice of its intention to
adopt a rule under Sections 2001.023 and 2001.024, the agency shall
inform each author and sponsor of legislation that became law and
that added, amended, or clearly affected the law under which the
rule would be adopted, if the person is still a member of the
legislature, that the adoption of a rule related to the member's
legislation is being considered.
(c) The state agency shall deliver a copy of the notice of
the proposed rule required by Sections 2001.023 and 2001.024 to
each member of the legislature described by Subsection (b)
concurrently with the agency's filing of the notice with the
secretary of state. Not later than the seventh day before the date
the state agency considers the rule for final adoption, the agency
shall also deliver to the member a copy of the rule as proposed for
final adoption if the text of the rule differs from the text of the
proposed rule published under Section 2001.024 and shall solicit
comment from the member regarding the changed text of the proposed
rule. The state agency also shall:
(1) timely inform the member of the time and place of
any public hearing or informal conference held in connection with
the contemplated rulemaking and allow the member to participate;
and
(2) invite the member to participate as a member of any
advisory committee the state agency appoints in connection with the
contemplated rulemaking.
(d) The state agency shall deliver a copy of an emergency
rule adopted under Section 2001.034 and the written reasons for its
adoption to each member of the legislature described by Subsection
(b) with respect to the law under which the emergency rule was
adopted concurrently with the agency's filing of the rule and the
reasons for its adoption with the secretary of state. If the state
agency gives an abbreviated notice or conducts a hearing in
connection with the adoption of the emergency rule, the agency
shall also promptly furnish the member with a copy of the notice and
shall timely inform the member of the time and place of any hearing.
(e) If a dispute arises between the state agency and a
member of the legislature described by Subsection (b) with regard
to the legislature's intent in enacting or otherwise affecting the
law under which the rule would be adopted, either the state agency
or the member may request the attorney general to issue an opinion
to resolve the dispute. If an opinion is requested under this
subsection before the date on which the rule would otherwise take
effect, the rule may not take effect unless the attorney general
issues an opinion that determines the rule as finally proposed for
adoption is consistent with the legislature's intent in enacting or
otherwise affecting the law under which the rule would be adopted
[Each house of the legislature by rule shall establish a process
under which the presiding officer of each house refers each
proposed state agency rule to the appropriate standing committee
for review before the rule is adopted.
[(b) A state agency shall deliver to the lieutenant governor
and the speaker of the house of representatives a copy of the notice
of a proposed rule when the agency files notice with the secretary
of state under Section 2001.023.
[(c) On the vote of a majority of its members, a standing
committee may send to a state agency a statement supporting or
opposing adoption of a proposed rule].
SECTION 3. Subsection (b), Section 402.042, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(b) An opinion may be requested by:
(1) the governor;
(2) the head of a department of state government;
(3) a head or board of a penal institution;
(4) a head or board of an eleemosynary institution;
(5) the head of a state board;
(6) a regent or trustee of a state educational
institution;
(7) a member of the legislature in accordance with
Section 2001.032 or a committee of a house of the legislature;
(8) a county auditor authorized by law; or
(9) the chairman of the governing board of a river
authority.
SECTION 4. The changes in law made by this Act relating to
the process of state agency rulemaking apply only in relation to:
(1) a state agency rule for which notice of the rule as
proposed is first published in the Texas Register under Sections
2001.023 and 2001.024, Government Code, on or after October 1,
2003; or
(2) an emergency rule adopted on or after September
15, 2003.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2003.