Chapter 1

Purpose, Definitions, General Filing Provisions, and Copies of Rules

 

Section 1.Authority. As the Registrar of Rules, the Secretary of State is establishing requirements for rule formatting, definition of terms, initial processes for rule promulgation, and rule filing under the Administrative Procedure Act, W.S. 16-3-101 through 16-3-106.

 

Section 2.Definitions.

 

(a)                "Administrative Rules System" means a database system providing access to proposed, emergency and final rules; providing for electronic submission and transmission of rules to the Governor's Office, Attorney General's Office, and Legislative Service Office as well as subscribers to rule notifications; and providing for electronic public comment submissions.

 

(b)               "Amended" means a proposed regular rule that alters all or part of a current rule.

 

(c)                "Chapter" means a grouping of rule sections having a common subject matter.

 

(d)"Cumbersome" means any document where formatting the incorporated material would cause the agency to purchase special software or incur unreasonable amounts of staff time to prepare including documents containing graphics, tables, drawings, equations, scientific nomenclature, special symbols, or non-Arabic numerals.

 

(e)"Current" means the regular rule presently in effect.

 

(f)"Date of Adoption" means the date the agency adopts rules.

 

(g)"Emergency Rule" means a temporary rule promulgated pursuant to W.S. 16-3- 103(b).

(h)"Filed" means the date the rule was accepted and made effective by the Registrar of Rules.

(i)"Final" means a regular rule that has been approved by the Governor and has been filed with the Registrar of Rules.

(j)"New" means:

(i)For the purposes of the Legislature's review, a rule that is promulgated in response to a Wyoming legislative enactment.

(ii)For the purposes of the Registrar of Rules, a rule that addresses issues not previously addressed in whole or in part by prior rulemaking.

(k)"Non-Substantive Change" means a change to current rules as outlined in Rules on Rules, Chapter 3, Section 3.

(l)"Program" means a grouping of rules all having a common subject matter or jurisdiction and belonging to a single agency, board or commission.

(m)"Proposed" means a regular rule that is open for public comment or is otherwise not final.

(n)"Regular Rule" means a rule promulgated pursuant to W.S. 16-3-103, not including emergency rules.

(o)"Repealed" means a rule that has been removed and placed in a different chapter, program, or agency or a rule which has been removed and has not been replaced.

 

(p)"Statement of Reasons" means a brief and concise statement of the principal reason(s) for the adoption of a rule that explains either the terms or substance of the proposed rule or a description of the subjects and issues involved and which meets the requirements of Tri-State Generation & Transmission Ass'n v. Environmental Quality Council, 590 P.2d 1324 (Wyo. 1979).

 

(q)"Statement justifying the emergency" means a brief and concise explanation of an emergency an agency faces that justifies adopting emergency rules.

 

(r)"Strike and Underscore Copy" is an electronic file containing the rule with additions to language marked with a single-line underscore and deletion of existing language marked with a single-dash strike-through.  Track Changes or other software-specific change management tools are not permissible.

 

(s)"Superseded" means a final rule that has been amended by a current rule relating to the same general subject matter.

 

Section 3.Agency, Program, Chapter Modifications.

(a)If an agency name is changed, the agency shall notify the Registrar of Rules. The notice shall include the agency's old name, the agency's new name, and the authority for the name change.

 

(b)After the agency notifies the Registrar of Rules, the Registrar of Rules shall change the agency's name using the Administrative Rules System.

 

(c)Programs may be moved from one agency to another due to statutory changes or reorganization of government.

 

(i)The current rule chapters of a program being moved shall be repealed by filing a Proposed Rule Packet; and

 

(ii)The current rule chapters shall be new rules filed under the surviving agency and program.

 

(d)Once an agency has repealed a chapter of rules, the agency may not reuse the number of that chapter in future rules.

 

(e)Agencies may adopt regular rules to reserve chapter numbers for future use.

 

Section 4.General Filing Provisions.

 

(a)                State agency rules shall be filed with the Registrar of Rules on the Administrative Rules System. All forms shall be mandatory unless specified otherwise and are found at https://rules.wyo.gov under the "Quick Links" heading.

 

(b)An agency proposing rules shall use the Wyoming Administrative Rules System to file all proposed rules packets in accordance with Chapter 3 of these Rules. After the Registrar of Rules verifies that a proposed rule packet complies with the Rules on Rules, the Administrative Rules System shall deliver notice of the proposed rules to any individuals who requested notice of proposed rules.

 

(c)An agency promulgating rules shall use the Administrative Rules System to file all rules packets in accordance with Chapter 3 of these Rules. After the Registrar of Rules verifies that a filed rule packet complies with the Rules on Rules, the Administrative Rules System shall deliver the complete packet to the Governor, the Legislative Service Office, and the Attorney General.

 

(d)No rule shall include a table of contents, title page, or index in any rule packet.

 

(e)An agency proposing or promulgating rules shall submit the entire chapter of each rule.

 

Section 5.Notices and Copies of Rules.

 

(a)The Administrative Rules System shall provide a subscription service for individuals to request notice of proposed, final, and emergency rules. The Administrative Rules System shall deliver notice of proposed, final, and emergency rules using that subscription service.

 

(b)Interested persons may obtain a certified copy of any filed rule from the Registrar of Rules upon written request and payment of a copy fee as set forth in W.S. 9-1-305.

 

(c)If there is any dispute as to the contents of an agency's rules, the official copy of a state agency's rules shall be that which the Registrar of Rules hosts on its website at https://rules.wyo.gov.