Sec. 4-170. Legislative regulation review committee. Filing requirements for regulations. Fiscal notes required.
Sec. 4-170. Legislative regulation review committee. Filing requirements for
regulations. Fiscal notes required. (a) There shall be a standing legislative committee
to review all regulations of the several state departments and agencies following the
proposal thereof, which shall consist of eight members of the House of Representatives,
four from each major party, to be appointed on the first Wednesday after the first Monday
in January in the odd-numbered years, by the speaker of said House, and six members
of the Senate, three from each major party, to be appointed on or before said dates by
the president pro tempore of the Senate. The members shall serve for the balance of
the term for which they were elected. Vacancies shall be filled by appointment by the
authority making the appointment. The members of the committee shall elect from
among their members two cochairpersons, one of whom shall be a member of the Senate
and one of whom shall be a member of the House of Representatives, and either of
whom may call meetings of the committee for the performance of its duties.
(b) (1) No adoption, amendment or repeal of any regulation, except a regulation
issued pursuant to subsection (f) of section 4-168, shall be effective until (A) the original
of the proposed regulation approved by the Attorney General, as provided in section 4-169, and eighteen copies thereof are submitted to the standing legislative regulation
review committee at the designated office of the committee, in a manner designated by
the committee, by the agency proposing the regulation, (B) the regulation is approved
by the committee, at a regular meeting or a special meeting called for the purpose, and
(C) the regulation is filed in the office of the Secretary of the State by the agency, as
provided in section 4-172. (2) The date of submission for purposes of subsection (c) of
this section shall be the first Tuesday of each month. Any regulation received by the
committee on or before the first Tuesday of a month shall be deemed to have been
submitted on the first Tuesday of that month. Any regulation submitted after the first
Tuesday of a month shall be deemed to be submitted on the first Tuesday of the next
succeeding month. (3) The form of proposed regulations which are submitted to the
committee shall be as follows: New language added to an existing regulation shall be
in capital letters or underlining, as determined by the committee; language to be deleted
shall be enclosed in brackets and a new regulation or new section of a regulation shall
be preceded by the word "(NEW)" in capital letters. Each proposed regulation shall
have a statement of its purpose following the final section of the regulation. (4) The
committee may permit any proposed regulation, including, but not limited to, a proposed
regulation which by reference incorporates in whole or in part, any other code, rule,
regulation, standard or specification, to be submitted in summary form together with a
statement of purpose for the proposed regulation. On and after October 1, 1994, if the
committee finds that a federal statute requires, as a condition of the state exercising
regulatory authority, that a Connecticut regulation at all times must be identical to a
federal statute or regulation, then the committee may approve a Connecticut regulation
that by reference specifically incorporates future amendments to such federal statute or
regulation provided the agency that proposed the Connecticut regulation shall submit
for approval amendments to such Connecticut regulations to the committee not later
than thirty days after the effective date of such amendment, and provided further the
committee may hold a public hearing on such Connecticut amendments. (5) The agency
shall prepare a fiscal note, including an estimate of the cost or of the revenue impact on
the state and any municipality, and shall append a copy of the note to each copy of the
proposed regulation. At the time of submission to the committee, the agency shall mail
or submit a copy of the proposed regulation and the fiscal note, prepared in accordance
with subsection (a) of section 4-168, to (A) the Office of Fiscal Analysis which, within
seven days of receipt, shall submit an analysis of the fiscal note to the committee; and
(B) each joint standing committee of the General Assembly having cognizance of the
subject matter of the proposed regulation. No regulation shall be found invalid due to
the failure of an agency to submit a copy of the proposed regulation and the fiscal note
to each committee of cognizance, provided such regulation and fiscal note has been
submitted to one such committee.
(c) The committee shall review all proposed regulations and, in its discretion, may
hold public hearings thereon, and may approve, disapprove or reject without prejudice,
in whole or in part, any such regulation. If the committee fails to so approve, disapprove
or reject without prejudice a proposed regulation, within sixty-five days after the date
of submission as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the committee shall be
deemed to have approved the proposed regulation for purposes of this section.
(d) If the committee disapproves a proposed regulation in whole or in part, it shall
give notice of the disapproval and the reasons for the disapproval to the agency, and no
agency shall thereafter issue any regulation or directive or take other action to implement
such disapproved regulation or part thereof, as the case may be, except that the agency
may adopt a substantively new regulation in accordance with the provisions of this
chapter, provided the General Assembly may reverse such disapproval under the provisions of section 4-171. If the committee disapproves any regulation proposed for the
purpose of implementing a federally subsidized or assisted program, the General Assembly shall be required to either sustain or reverse the disapproval.
(e) If the committee rejects a proposed regulation without prejudice, in whole or in
part, it shall notify the agency of the reasons for the rejection and the agency shall
resubmit the regulation in revised form, if the adoption of such regulation is required
by the general statutes or any public or special act, not later than the first Tuesday of
the second month following such rejection without prejudice and may so resubmit any
other regulation, in the same manner as provided in this section for the initial submission
with a summary of revisions identified by paragraph. The committee shall review and
take action on such revised regulation no later than thirty-five days after the date of
submission, as provided in subsection (b) of this section. Publication of the notice in
the Connecticut Law Journal pursuant to the provisions of section 4-168 shall not be
required in the case of such resubmission.
(f) If an agency fails to file any regulation approved in whole or in part by the
standing legislative regulation review committee in the office of the Secretary of the
State as provided in section 4-172, within fourteen days after the date of approval, the
agency shall notify the committee, within five days after such fourteen-day period, of
its reasons for not so filing. If any agency fails to comply with the time limits established
under subsection (b) of section 4-168 or under subsection (e) of this section, the administrative head of such agency shall submit to the committee a written explanation of the
reasons for such noncompliance. The committee, upon the affirmative vote of two-thirds
of its members, may grant an extension of the time limits established under subsection
(b) of section 4-168 and under subsection (e) of this section. If no such extension is
granted, the administrative head of the agency shall personally appear before the standing legislative regulation review committee, at a time prescribed by the committee, to
explain such failure to comply. After any such appearance, the committee may, upon
the affirmative vote of two-thirds of its members, report such noncompliance to the
Governor. Within fourteen days thereafter the Governor shall report to the committee
concerning the action the Governor has taken to ensure compliance with the provisions
of section 4-168 and with the provisions of this section.
(1971, P.A. 854, S. 5; 1972, P.A. 258, S. 2; P.A. 73-396, S. 1, 2; P.A. 76-297, S. 2; 76-434, S. 3, 12; P.A. 78-283, S.
2; P.A. 79-623, S. 2, 8; P.A. 80-471, S. 4; P.A. 83-322, S. 1, 2; P.A. 85-608, S. 2; P.A. 86-250, S. 2, 4; 86-403, S. 9, 132;
P.A. 88-317, S. 5, 107; P.A. 90-124, S. 2; P.A. 94-76; P.A. 95-41; P.A. 99-90, S. 5; P.A. 01-195, S. 75, 181; P.A. 05-288,
S. 17.)
History: 1972 act specified the form of proposed regulations to be presented to regulation review committee; P.A. 73-396 changed date of appointment from July 1 to the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January of odd-numbered
years and required seventeen copies rather than one copy to be given the review committee; P.A. 76-297 allowed submission
of regulations in summary form and included procedure for course of action if committee rejects resolution without prejudice; P.A. 76-434 deleted provision providing per diem and reimbursement for expenses; P.A. 78-283 required that regulations be filed in secretary of the state's office and required notification of review committee if filing not performed; P.A.
79-623 added provisions concerning fiscal notes; P.A. 80-471 revised form of submitted regulations and permitted summary
form; P.A. 83-322 specified the date of submission of proposed regulations for the purposes of Subsec. (c), and required
that the proposed regulations be submitted at the designated office of the legislative regulation review committee; P.A.
85-608 upon disapproval of a proposed regulation, mandated adoption of a substantively new regulation, when required
by public act and permitted adoption of any other regulation, mandated resubmission of revised regulation, if the adoption
of such regulation is required by public act and permitted resubmission of any other regulation and provided procedures
upon failure to comply with time limits imposed by Sec. 4-168; P.A. 86-250 made technical changes, deleted requirement
that agency adopt a substantively new regulation in case of disapproval by committee and specified time for resubmittal
of regulation rejected without prejudice; P.A. 86-403 made technical change; P.A. 88-317 made technical changes, effective
July 1, 1989, and applicable to agency proceedings commencing on or after that date; P.A. 90-124 amended Subsec. (b)
to require that agency, at the time of submission of a proposed regulation to the regulation review committee, submit such
regulation to each committee of the general assembly having cognizance of the subject of the regulation and provided no
regulation shall be found invalid due to an agency's failure to submit such regulation to each such committee if such
submission has been made to one such committee; P.A. 94-76 in Subsec. (b) authorized the approval of a Connecticut
regulation which specifically incorporates future amendments to a federal statute or regulation; P.A. 95-41 amended Subsec.
(e) to change date by which committees shall review and take action on revised regulation from "within" to "no later than"
thirty-five days after date of submission; P.A. 99-90 amended Subsec. (b) by dividing the Subsec. into Subdivs. and
Subparas., substituting "eighteen copies" for "seventeen copies" and inserting ", in a manner designated by the committee,"
in Subdiv. (1), and allowing new language in a regulation to be underlined as an alternative to capital letters, as determined
by the committee, in Subdiv. (2) and made technical changes; P.A. 01-195 made technical changes in Subsec. (f), effective
July 11, 2001; P.A. 05-288 made a technical change in Subsec. (c), effective July 13, 2005.
Cited. 165 C. 448. Cited. 168 C. 597. Cited. 171 C. 691. Cited. 172 C. 263. Cited. 173 C. 462. Cited. 177 C. 356.
Constitutionality of statute not in question since disputed regulation was not subject to review under the statutes. 183 C.
313. Cited. 186 C. 153. Cited. 187 C. 458. Cited. 191 C. 173; Id., 384. Cited. 200 C. 133. Cited. 202 C. 583. Cited. 204
C. 122; Id., 287. Cited. 215 C. 590. Cited. 217 C. 631. Cited. 221 C. 206. Cited. 232 C. 599. Cited. 234 C. 614. Cited. 239
C. 32.
Cited. 1 CA 1. Cited. 26 CA 132. Cited. 28 CA 145.
Cited. 34 CS 225. Cited. 42 CS 602.
Subsec. (b):
Cited. 39 CA 216.