SENATE FILE 229

BY  McKINLEY

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the review of administrative rules for their impact on small business.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

   Section 1.  Section 15.106, Code 2011, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  8A.  Analyze each notice of intended action or rule filed without notice which may have a substantial impact on small business and submit its analysis and findings on that impact as required by section 17A.4, subsection 4A.
   Sec. 2.  Section 17A.4, Code 2011, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  4A.  Any notice of intended action or rule filed without notice pursuant to subsection 2, which may have a substantial impact on small business, as defined in section 17A.4A, subsection 8, shall summarize that impact in the preamble of the notice of intended action or the preamble of a rule filed without notice. In addition, the agency shall notify the department of economic development of this intended action or rule and its possible impact on small business. The department of economic development shall analyze the rulemaking and determine whether the impact on small business is substantial, adverse, and whether any feasible alternatives exist to reduce the impact. The department shall submit its analysis and findings to the administrative rules coordinator, the administrative rules review committee, and the agency. A rule which is the subject of the notice of intended action shall not be adopted until the analysis has been completed. For a rule filed without notice, the analysis must be submitted within seventy days of the publication of the rule.
   Sec. 3.  Section 17A.4A, subsection 1, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  An agency shall issue a regulatory analysis of a proposed rule that complies with subsection 2, paragraph “a”, if, within thirty-two days after the published notice of proposed rule adoption, a written request for the analysis is submitted to the agency by the administrative rules review committee or the administrative rules coordinator. An agency shall issue a regulatory analysis of a proposed rule that complies with subsection 2, paragraph “b”, if the rule would have a substantial impact on small business and if, within thirty-two days after the published notice of proposed rule adoption, a written request for analysis is submitted to the agency by the administrative rules review committee, the administrative rules coordinator, the department of economic development, at least twenty-five persons signing that request who each qualify as a small business, or by an organization representing at least twenty-five such persons. If a rule has been adopted without prior notice and an opportunity for public participation in reliance upon section 17A.4, subsection 3, the written request for an analysis that complies with subsection 2, paragraph“a”or “b”, may be made within seventy days of publication of the rule.
   Sec. 4.  Section 17A.33, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   17A.33  Review by administrative rules review committee.
   The administrative rules review committee shall review existing rules, as time permits, to determine if there are adverse or beneficial effects from these rules. The committee shall give a high priority to review rules that are referred to it by small business as defined in section 17A.4A, and rules identified by the department of economic development as having a substantial and adverse impact on small business. The review of these rules shall be forwarded to the appropriate standing committees of the house and senate.
EXPLANATION
   This bill requires any new rule having a substantial impact on small business to indicate that fact in the preamble of the filing and requires the agency promulgating the rule to notify the department of economic development. The department is then required to analyze this impact and determine whether any feasible alternatives exist to reduce that impact. This analysis is to be provided to the administrative rules coordinator, the administrative rules review committee, and the agency. The bill also authorizes the department of economic development to demand an agency to issue a small business regulatory flexibility analysis and requires the administrative rules review committee to review new rules identified as having a substantial and adverse impact on small business.