BILL NUMBER:  S5719

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the state administrative procedure
act, in relation to the time needed by small businesses and local
governments to comply with new regulations

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

This bill requires agencies proposing regulations that affect small
businesses or local governments to assess the minimum time such
entities will need to come into compliance with any new regulatory
requirements.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :

Bill § 1 amends subdivision 2 of § 202-b of the State Administrative
Procedure Act (SAPA), which requires an agency to prepare a regulatory
flexibility analysis (RFA) when a new rule would impose adverse
economic impacts or reporting, recordkeeping or other compliance
requirements on small businesses or local governments.

Subdivision 2 is amended to require that the RFA include an assessment
of the minimum time that will be needed by small businesses and local
governments to come into compliance with the rule, taking into
consideration any applicable practical, legal and economic or fiscal
constraints on such compliance, and a description of the measures that
              

the agency intends to utilize to ensure that small businesses and
local governments are informed of new or amended compliance
requirements with sufficient lead time to achieve compliance without
experiencing unnecessary costs or burdens.

Bill § 2 amends subdivision 6 of SAPA g 202-b, which currently
requires agencies to assure that small businesses and local
governments have been given an opportunity to participate in the
rulemaking requiring an RFA.

The amendments instead require the agency to actively solicit such
participation, and clarify that merely publishing the rule in the
State Register and posting it on the agency's website is not enough:
the agency must take additional actions to ensure that affected
entities are aware of and invited to provide input on proposed policy
changes.

 EFFECTS OF PRESENT LAW WHICH THIS BILL WOULD ALTER :

SAPA § 202-a(3)(i) requires an agency to indicate in a rule's
regulatory impact statement "the estimated period of time necessary to
enable regulated persons to achieve compliance" with a rule, but does
not require any consideration of the different sizes or types of
entities affected by the rule.

SAPA § 202-b requires agencies to assure that small businesses and
local governments have been given an opportunity to participate in a
rulemaking that could affect them, and lists a number of targeted
means of outreach that agencies may employ. However, agencies
frequently indicate that the routine activities of Register
publication and online posting alone are sufficient to comply with
this requirement.

 JUSTIFICATION :

New regulations can be needed to protect health and the environment,
promote fairness or achieve other important social goals. However,
such goals are only met when affected entities come into compliance
with such regulations, which cannot always occur overnight. Small
businesses cannot immediately access funding, retool their physical
plants or train employees, and local governments must often observe
specific legal and fiscal procedures before acting.

This bill would require agencies proposing new rules that would impact
small businesses and local governments to give due consideration to
the practical, legal and economic or fiscal constraints that may
affect the ability of these entities to implement new regulatory
requirements. It also requires agencies to identify the means by which
they intend to communicate policy changes, since no such requirements
will be effective if the target audience does not actually receive
timely and adequate information on what is expected of them. Finally,
to improve both the awareness of pending regulations and the
effectiveness of the rulemaking process, the bill reiterates that an
agency proposing a rule requiring an RFA must engage in targeted
outreach to actively solicit input from affected entities.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

New bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
First day of November after becoming law.