Section 227.135. Statements of scope of proposed rules.

 

(1)  An agency shall prepare a statement of the scope of any rule that it plans to promulgate. The statement shall include all of the following:

(a) A description of the objective of the rule.

(b) A description of existing policies relevant to the rule and of new policies proposed to be included in the rule and an analysis of policy alternatives.

(c) The statutory authority for the rule.

(d) Estimates of the amount of time that state employees will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule.

(e) A description of all of the entities that may be affected by the rule.

(f) A summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule.

(2)  An agency that has prepared a statement of the scope of the proposed rule shall present the statement to the governor and to the individual or body with policy-making powers over the subject matter of the proposed rule for approval. The agency may not send the statement to the legislative reference bureau for publication under sub. (3) until the governor issues a written notice of approval of the statement. The individual or body with policy-making powers may not approve the statement until at least 10 days after publication of the statement under sub. (3) . No state employee or official may perform any activity in connection with the drafting of a proposed rule except for an activity necessary to prepare the statement of the scope of the proposed rule until the governor and the individual or body with policy-making powers over the subject matter of the proposed rule approve the statement.

(3)  If the governor approves a statement of the scope of a proposed rule under sub. (2) , the agency shall send an electronic copy of the statement to the legislative reference bureau, in a format approved by the legislative reference bureau, for publication in the register. On the same day that the agency sends the statement to the legislative reference bureau, the agency shall send a copy of the statement to the secretary of administration. The agency shall include with any statement of scope sent to the legislative reference bureau the date of the governor's approval of the statement of scope. The legislative reference bureau shall assign a discrete identifying number to each statement of scope and shall include that number and the date of the governor's approval in the publication of the statement of scope in the register.

(4)  If at any time after a statement of the scope of a proposed rule is approved under sub. (2) the agency changes the scope of the proposed rule in any meaningful or measurable way, including changing the scope of the proposed rule so as to include in the scope any activity, business, material, or product that is not specifically included in the original scope of the proposed rule, the agency shall prepare and obtain approval of a revised statement of the scope of the proposed rule in the same manner as the original statement was prepared and approved under subs. (1) and (2) . No state employee or official may perform any activity in connection with the drafting of the proposed rule except for an activity necessary to prepare the revised statement of the scope of the proposed rule until the revised statement is so approved.

1995 a. 106 ; 2003 a. 118 , 145 ; 2005 a. 249 ; 2007 a. 20 ; 2011 a. 21 ; 2013 a. 20 , 165 .

Note

In Coyne v. Walker , 2016 WI 38 , the Supreme Court held that provisions of 2011 Wisconsin Act 21 that give to the Governor, and in limited cases, the Secretary of Administration, the power to intervene in the process of drafting and promulgating administrative rules are unconstitutional as applied to the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Finding Administrative Intent in the Wisconsin Administrative Register. Sefarbi. Wis. Law. April 2003. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Changing the Rules on Rulemaking. Sklansky. Wis. Law. Aug. 2011. Microsoft Windows NT 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1