This section lets interested people petition agencies about rules, and requires agencies and the Office of the State Register to process those petitions, comments, hearings, notices, and reviews on set timelines.
§964. Public request for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule; agency rule review A.(1) An interested person may petition an agency requesting the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule. Each agency shall prescribe by rule the form for petitions and the procedure for their submission, consideration, and disposition. Within ninety days after submission of a petition, the agency shall either deny the petition in writing, stating reasons for the denial, or shall initiate rulemaking proceedings in accordance with this Chapter. Each agency shall include on its website a description of the procedure for submitting petitions in accordance with this Subsection. (2) The Office of the State Register shall provide for and host an online portal on its webpage to allow any interested person the opportunity to comment on any rule of an agency which the person believes is contrary to law, outdated, unnecessary, overly complex, or burdensome. The Office of the State Register shall forward each comment to the appropriate agency. Within ninety days after receiving a comment, the agency shall either respond in writing to the person stating reasons that the agency disagrees with the comment or shall initiate rulemaking proceedings to address the comments in accordance with this Chapter. B.(1) At least once prior to January 1, 2020, and at least once during every six-year period thereafter, each agency subject to Subsection A of this Section which engages in rulemaking shall conduct a public hearing for the purpose of allowing any interested person the opportunity to comment on any rule of the agency which the person believes is contrary to law, outdated, unnecessary, overly complex, or burdensome. The agency shall publish notice of the meeting in the Louisiana Register, give notice of the meeting electronically to the appropriate legislative oversight committees, and provide notice of the meeting to all persons who have made timely request of the agency for notice of rule changes, all no later than thirty days prior to the meeting. (2) The notice of the meeting shall contain: (a) The name of the agency. (b) The purpose of the meeting. (c) The time and place of the meeting. (d) The process for requesting reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities. (e) The name and contact information of the person within the agency to whom interested persons should direct their views regarding the agency's rules, if in writing, and the deadline for submission of written comments. (3) The agency shall consider fully all written and oral comments and submissions concerning its rules. The agency shall advise persons who provide oral comments that in order to be submitted to the legislative oversight committees, comments must be submitted to the agency in writing. The agency shall issue a response to each submission describing the principal advantages and disadvantages of the rule changes suggested in the submission. In addition, the agency may prepare a statement explaining the basis and rationale for the rule in question identifying the data and evidence upon which the rule is based. All such statements and responses to submissions shall be furnished to the respective legislative oversight committees in the manner provided by R.S. 49:966(K) and shall be made available to interested persons as soon as possible but no later than one day following their submission to the appropriate legislative oversight committees. C. Any interested person may request review of an occupational regulation by submitting a petition to the occupational licensing board that issued the regulation. An occupational licensing board shall review a regulation provided for in the petition for full compliance with the least restrictive regulation as set forth in R.S. 37:43 or R.S. 49:260, as applicable. D. Each year, each agency shall review a sufficient number of the rules adopted by the agency so that all of the rules of the agency have been reviewed within a five-year period and shall submit a report to the appropriate legislative oversight committees in the manner provided by R.S. 49:966(K). The report shall include a listing of the rules reviewed by the agency during the previous calendar year, a description of whether each such rule is necessary and consistent with law and the agency's mission, a determination whether the probable benefits of the rule outweigh the burdens and costs on persons regulated by the rule, and the agency's proposed action, if any, regarding each such rule; a complete listing of rules reviewed by the agency since the beginning of the five-year period; and the percentage of the agency's rules that have been reviewed by the agency since the beginning of the five-year period. Acts 2022, No. 663, §1; Acts 2024, No. 192, §1. NOTE: Former R.S. 49:964 redesignated as R.S. 49:978.1 by Acts 2022, No. 663, §1.