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Committee advances bill to increase legislator role, transparency in agency rulemaking
Summary
The Senate Committee on Legislative Administration advanced House Bill 126, a proposal to require earlier coordination between agencies and bill sponsors during rulemaking and to post legislators' comments alongside proposed and adopted rules. The committee concurred on the bill after public testimony and committee discussion.
House Bill 126, introduced in the House by Representative David Beatty, was advanced by the Senate Committee on Legislative Administration after testimony and committee discussion. The bill would revise the Montana Administrative Procedure Act to strengthen legislator involvement in agency rulemaking, require agencies to coordinate with bill sponsors before substantive rulemaking, and, when a sponsor objects, post the sponsor’s comments alongside proposed and adopted rule notices.
Representative David Beatty, sponsor and member for House District 86, said the bill “provides for greater legislative involvement in the rule making process. And it also provides for more public participation in the rule making process.” He told the committee his changes aim to make coordination with legislators clear and to have agencies post a legislator’s comments beside proposed rules and, if opposition continues, beside adoption notices so “the public understands the perspective of the executive as expressed in the rules and the perspective of the legislature as expressed through the bill sponsor.”
Quinlan O’Connor, chief legal counsel for the Department of Labor and Industry, appeared as an informational witness and offered to answer questions on rulemaking and the bill. O’Connor noted coordination with another, more extensive bill is under way and described inter-bill coordination as part of the housekeeping between proposals.
In committee questions, members raised practical issues about how notices are written and whether notices should be drafted in plain language. Representative Beatty said that while he understood the concern, that plain-language requirement would be better addressed in a separate, more comprehensive bill to avoid coordination conflicts.
Senator Heyman and Senator Fuller voiced support for the bill, saying it would help legislators keep track of rule changes that implement laws they sponsor. Senator Emmerich voiced concern about an amendment added in the House that, he argued, “kinda reverses the tables for these rulemaking hearings, and turns the people that showed up for public comment into the committee,” and said that portion made him reluctant to support the bill as amended.
On executive action, Senator Emerich moved that the committee concur with House Bill 126. The committee took a voice vote; the chair announced the bill “has been concurred in.” Senator Zolokov was recorded as aye by proxy.
