Section 202-D. Regulatory agenda

* 1.  (a)  The  departments of health,
  education,  insurance,  environmental  conservation,   labor,   banking,
  agriculture  and  markets,  motor  vehicles  and  state,  the offices of
  children and family services and temporary  and  disability  assistance,
  and  the  division  of  housing  and  community renewal and the workers'
  compensation board and any other department specified by the governor or
  his designee shall, and any other agency may, in its discretion,  submit
  to the secretary of state, for publication in the first regular issue of
  the  state  register  published during the month of January and the last
  regular issue of the state register  published  in  June,  a  regulatory
  agenda   to  afford  the  agency  an  opportunity  to  solicit  comments
  concerning any rule which the agency is considering proposing,  but  for
  which  no  notice of proposed rule making has been submitted pursuant to
  subdivision one of section two hundred two of this article.
    (b) A regulatory agenda  shall  be  comprised  of  a  list  and  brief
  description  of  subject matter being considered for rule making and the
  name,  public  office,  address  and  telephone  number  of  the  agency
  representative,  knowledgeable  on such regulatory agenda, from whom any
  information may  be  obtained  and  to  whom  written  comments  may  be
  submitted  concerning  such  regulatory  agenda.  An  e-mail address for
  requests  for  information  and  submission  of  comments  may  also  be
  included.
    (c)  Agencies shall publish the regulatory agendas on their respective
  websites whenever feasible. An  agency  that  publishes  its  regulatory
  agenda   on   its  website  shall  have  the  option  of  maintaining  a
  continuously updated regulatory agenda, wherein a description of a  rule
  is  added when the agency begins to consider proposing it and is removed
  when the agency is no longer considering proposing it. Such  description
  shall  identify the date on which the description is first listed in the
  regulatory agenda and shall conspicuously indicate that the  description
  has  been  newly  listed for a period of not less than thirty days after
  such date. In any year that an agency maintains a  continuously  updated
  regulatory  agenda,  it  shall  not  be required to publish a regulatory
  agenda in the last regular issue of the  state  register  in  June.  The
  agency  shall  inform the public that it maintains an updated regulatory
  agenda on its website and shall list the address of  its  website  in  a
  notice  published  with  the  regulatory  agenda such agency submits for
  publication in January. The secretary  of  state  shall  republish  this
  notice in the last regular issue in June.
    (d)  An  agency  shall  identify each rule described in its regulatory
  agenda for which a regulatory  flexibility  analysis  or  a  rural  area
  flexibility  analysis  may  be  required,  and shall provide outreach as
  appropriate to potentially affected small businesses, local  governments
  and  public  and  private  interests  in  rural areas. Such outreach may
  include solicitation of input from potentially affected parties  through
  electronic  means or through any of the activities listed in subdivision
  six of section two hundred two-b and subdivision seven  of  section  two
  hundred  two-bb of this article. In addition, the agency shall provide a
  copy of the description of each rule subject to the provisions  of  this
  paragraph  to  the  governor's office of regulatory reform, which may in
  its discretion include the description and additional information on the
  rule in the quarterly report issued pursuant  to  subdivision  eight  of
  section two hundred two-b of this article.
    * NB Effective until December 31, 2012
    * 1.  An  agency  may,  in  its discretion, submit to the secretary of
  state, for publication in the first regular issue of the state  register
  published  during the months of January, May and September, a regulatory
  agenda  to  afford  the  agency  an  opportunity  to  solicit   comments

  concerning  any  rule which the agency is considering proposing, but for
  which no notice of proposed rule making has been submitted  pursuant  to
  subdivision one of section two hundred two of this chapter. A regulatory
  agenda  shall  be  comprised  of  summaries  of such rules. Each summary
  shall,  in  less  than  two  thousand  words,  contain,  in  so  far  as
  practicable:
    (a) a description of the rule which the agency is considering;
    (b)  a  citation  to  the  statutory  authority,  including particular
  sections and subdivisions, which authorizes the rule;
    (c)  a  schedule  of  the  dates  for  hearings,  meetings  or   other
  opportunities  for  public participation in the development of the rule,
  if any;
    (d) the probable date on  which  the  agency  anticipates  submitting,
  pursuant  to  section  two  hundred  two  of  this  chapter, a notice of
  proposed rule making for such rule if known;
    (e) the name, public office,  address  and  telephone  number  of  the
  agency  representative,  knowledgeable  on  such  rule,  from  whom  any
  information may  be  obtained  and  to  whom  written  comments  may  be
  submitted concerning such rule; and
    (f)  any  other information which the agency determines will serve the
  public interest.
    * NB Effective December 31, 2012
    * 2. Nothing in this section shall:
    (a) preclude an agency from adopting a rule for which  a  summary  has
  not  appeared  in  a regulatory agenda or from adopting a rule different
  than one summarized in a regulatory agenda; provided, however, that if a
  rule is proposed by an agency required to  submit  a  regulatory  agenda
  pursuant  to subdivision one of this section on a matter not included in
  a regulatory agenda, the proposing agency shall indicate in  the  notice
  of proposed rule making that the rule was not under consideration at the
  time the regulatory agenda was submitted for publication; or
    (b) require an agency to adopt a rule for which a summary has appeared
  in a regulatory agenda.
    * NB Effective until December 31, 2012
    * 2. Nothing in this section shall:
    (a)  preclude  an  agency from adopting a rule for which a summary has
  not appeared in a regulatory agenda or from adopting  a  rule  different
  than one summarized in a regulatory agenda; or
    (b) require an agency to adopt a rule for which a summary has appeared
  in a regulatory agenda.
    * NB Effective December 31, 2012
    3.  The  secretary  of  state  shall  adopt  rules  necessary  for the
  publication of regulatory agendas, including but not limited to standard
  forms to be used for the submission of regulatory  agendas,  a  schedule
  prescribing when such agendas must be submitted for publication, and any
  identification number system.