State administrative services directs agencies to put rulemaking information 'front and center' and publish comments

Barry Leslie, director of the Department of Administrative Services and the state chief operating officer, told the Senate committee on Holders on March 19 that Governor Kotek has set new expectations for how state agencies handle rulemaking.

Leslie said the administration's goal is to “increase access and transparency and just clarity for our customers” who interact with agency rule processes, and described four primary requirements agencies must meet by May 1. “We are requiring all agencies to have rulemaking front and center on their home page,” Leslie said. She added agencies must post all public comments received during rulemaking and provide a summary explaining how those comments affected the final rule.

The director described a second transparency step as posting comments so the public can “see what other people submitted and … get a better bird's-eye view” of input on a rule. The third requirement is an annual rulemaking calendar for each agency, published early in the year and updated as plans change, to help external stakeholders plan participation. The fourth expectation asks agencies to be more diligent in reporting the operational and workload impacts of rulemaking when they prepare fiscal or implementation analyses.

Leslie said the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) will support agencies to meet both the compliance requirements and the “spirit” of the governor's direction. “DAS will of course be working with all agencies to make sure they're in compliance and also just supporting them to really not just meet the compliance nature of the expectations but also the spirit of the governor's expectations,” Leslie said.

Committee members thanked Leslie for the briefing and asked procedural and follow-up questions. Senator Manning welcomed further, off-the-record discussions about a childcare center for state employees as an aside to the rulemaking topic; Senator Thatcher urged use of the state's transparency website as one posting location and Leslie confirmed that requirement is included in the governor's letter. No formal action was taken by the committee on the briefing.

The administration's deadlines and the specifics Leslie described are intended to address complaints from members of the public and regulated parties who said they had difficulty finding rulemaking notices, understanding whether their written comments influenced final rules, and tracking agency rulemaking workloads.

Leslie said DAS has coordinated with agency rulemaking coordinators across state government in developing the expectations and credited that group for helping with implementation details.

The committee did not vote on any legislation related to these expectations at the March 19 meeting; Leslie closed her presentation and the committee proceeded to other agenda items.