The House Environment, Energy and Technology Committee established a review process for forthcoming Department of Environmental Quality administrative rules and assigned members to pre-review dockets so the committee can use hearing time for questions and clarifications.

Chairman Barbieri told members the committee had “only got about 10” rule items in its folder and that the Department of Environmental Quality anticipates sending subject‑matter experts to explain “at least 6 expert areas of expertise” and that DEQ expects “a couple of days” of committee briefings. “They’re expecting a couple of days, and I don’t mean, you know, 8 hour days or 4 hour days, but they’re expecting 2 sessions,” the chair said.

The chair directed agencies to provide a plain‑English paragraph describing what each rule does, another paragraph explaining what the proposed change is, and the statutory citation the rule implements or enforces. “If we can begin to get the statutory citation of what they’re enforcing, what they’re implementing, and we can get a plain English understanding of what the rule does and what the change is, we’re gonna have a better handle on whether or not it’s comporting with the intent of the statute,” he said.

To prepare, members were assigned ranges of dockets to review: Representative Bruce was asked to start at the last docket number and work backward, while Representative Gallup was asked to start at the top and work downward; other members on each side of the table were to proceed toward the middle and meet the middle point before DEQ staff briefings.

The chair reminded members that committee folders will hold meeting materials and that RS documents remain confidential unless publicly released. He also noted the committee will operate electronically and that IT and the committee secretary will help members access shared folders.

No formal motions or votes were recorded on the rules at this meeting; the committee scheduled review and DEQ briefings for future meetings.