PART II. RULE PROMULGATION

§961. Procedure for adoption of rules

           A.(1) An agency shall give notice of its intention to adopt, amend, or repeal any rule and a copy of the proposed rules at least ninety days prior to taking action on the rule.

           (2) The notice shall include all of the following:

           (a) A statement by the agency clearly describing the proposed action being taken.

           (b) A statement by the legislative fiscal office on whether the proposed action will result in a fiscal impact.

           (c) A statement by the legislative fiscal office on whether the proposed action will result in an economic impact.

           (d) The name of the agency representative responsible for responding to inquiries about the intended action.

           (e) The time, place, and manner in which interested persons may present public comment regarding the intended action.

           (f) A statement that the intended action complies with the statutory law administered by the agency, including a citation of the enabling legislation.

           (g) A preamble explaining the basis and rationale for the intended action and summarizing the information and data supporting the intended action.

           (h) All of the following statements concerning the proposed action:

           (i) The impact on family formation, stability, and autonomy required by R.S. 49:972.

           (ii) The impact on child, individual, or family poverty in relation to individual or community asset development required by R.S. 49:973.

           (iii) The economic impact on small businesses required by R.S. 49:974.4.

           (iv) The small business regulatory flexibility analysis required by R.S. 49:974.5.

           (3) The notice shall be published at least once in the Louisiana Register and shall be submitted with a full text of the proposed rule to the Louisiana Register at least one hundred days prior to the date the agency will take action on the rule.

           (4) After the notice is published in the Louisiana Register, the agency shall make available copies of the full text of the proposed rule no later than two working days after receiving a written request.

           (5) Notice of the intent of an agency to adopt, amend, or repeal any rule and the approved fiscal and economic impact statements shall be transmitted to all persons who have made timely request of the agency for notice. The notice and statements shall be transmitted at the earliest possible date, but not later than ten days after the date when the proposed rule change is submitted to the Louisiana Register.

           (6) For the purpose of this Subsection, the date of notice is the date of publication of the issue of the Louisiana Register in which the notice appears as stated on the outside cover or the first page of the issue.

           B.(1) The agency shall afford all interested persons a reasonable opportunity to submit data, views, comments, or arguments, orally or in writing. In the case of substantive rules, the agency shall grant an opportunity for oral presentation or argument if requested within twenty days after publication of the rule pursuant to Subsection A of this Section by twenty-five persons, by a governmental subdivision or agency, by an association having not less than twenty-five members, or by a committee of either house of the legislature to which the proposed rule change has been referred pursuant to R.S. 49:966.

           (2) Any hearing held pursuant to the provisions of Paragraph (1) of this Subsection shall be held no earlier than thirty-five days and no later than forty-five days after the publication of the Louisiana Register in which the notice of the intended action appears.

           (3) The agency shall consider fully all written and oral comments and submissions respecting the proposed rule. The agency shall respond to the comments and submissions describing the principal reasons for and against adoption of any amendments or changes suggested in the written or oral comments and submissions.

           (4) The response required by Paragraph (3) of this Subsection shall be furnished to the respective legislative oversight subcommittees at least five days prior to the day the legislative oversight subcommittee hearing is to be held on the proposed rule and shall be made available to interested persons no later than one day following their submission to the appropriate legislative oversight subcommittee. If no legislative oversight hearing is to be held, the agency shall send its response to comments or submissions on the rule to any person who presented comments or submissions on the rule and to any requesting person not later than fifteen days prior to the time of publication of the final rule.

           (5) The agency shall, upon request, make available to interested persons the report submitted pursuant to R.S. 49:966(D) no later than one working day following the submittal of such report to the legislative oversight subcommittees.

           C.(1) The statement of fiscal impact shall be prepared by the proposing agency and submitted to the legislative fiscal office for its approval. The fiscal impact statement shall include a statement of the receipt, expenditure, or allocation of state funds or funds of any political subdivision of the state.

           (2) The statement of economic impact shall be prepared by the proposing agency and submitted to the legislative fiscal office for its approval. The economic impact statement shall include an estimate of the cost to the agency to implement the proposed action, including the estimated amount of paperwork; an estimate of the cost or economic benefit to all persons directly affected by the proposed action; an estimate of the impact of the proposed action on competition and the open market for employment, if applicable; and a detailed statement of the data, assumptions, and methods used in making each of the above estimates.

           D. When a rule is adopted, amended, or repealed in compliance with federal regulations, the adopting agency's notice of intent and the actual text of the rule as published in the Louisiana Register shall be accompanied by a citation of the volume, number, date, and page number of the Federal Register issue in which the determining federal regulation is published.

           E.(1) No agency shall adopt, amend, or repeal any rule if the accompanying fiscal and economic impact statement approved by the legislative fiscal office indicates that the rule change would result in any increase in the expenditure of state funds, unless the rule is adopted as an emergency rule pursuant to the requirements of R.S. 49:962 or unless the legislature has specifically appropriated the funds necessary for the expenditures associated with the rule change.

           (2) The fiscal and economic impact statement shall be summarized by the agency as to the estimated costs or economic benefits, or both, to directly affected persons, small businesses, or nongovernmental groups, and the summary shall be published in the Louisiana Register.

           (3) No later than the tenth day of the month, the office of the state register shall electronically transmit to the commercial division of the Department of State the summary of the fiscal and economic impact statement.

           (4)(a) Except as otherwise provided in Subparagraph (b) of this Paragraph, any proposed action that the legislative fiscal office determines will result in either the expenditure of state funds or an economic impact involving costs to regulated entities estimated at two hundred thousand dollars per year or more or six hundred thousand dollars or more over three years shall not take effect unless the appropriate legislative oversight subcommittees determine that the action is acceptable. However, this requirement shall not apply if the legislative fiscal office determines that the fiscal or economic impact of the proposed action is less than or equal to the amount accounted for in the fiscal note for legislation that required the action.

           (b) A proposed action specified in Subparagraph (a) of this Paragraph may take effect without a determination by the legislative oversight committees that the action is acceptable only if both of the following occur:

           (i) At least one legislative oversight committee fails to conduct a hearing for the purpose of making a determination regarding the proposed action within thirty days of receipt of the report required by R.S. 49:966(D)(1)(b).

           (ii) The governor deems the action acceptable in writing.

           F.(1) No later than the tenth day of the month, the office of the state register shall electronically transmit to the commercial division of the Department of State all of the following information:

           (a) The small business economic impact statement prepared by the agency pursuant to R.S. 49:974.4 and the small business regulatory flexibility analysis prepared pursuant to R.S. 49:974.5.

           (b) The summary of the estimated costs to small businesses, citizens, and nongovernmental groups as provided in Subsection E of this Section.

           (c) Any potpourri notices which are submitted to the office of the state register pursuant to R.S. 49:974.4.

           (2) Prior to electronically sending the information required in this Subsection and Subsection E of this Section to the commercial division of the Department of State, the office of the state register shall divide the information by agency.

           Acts 1966, No. 382, §3, eff. July 1, 1967. Amended by Acts 1974, No. 284, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1975; Acts 1975, No. 730, §1; Acts 1976, No. 279, §1; Acts 1978, No. 252, §1; Acts 1980, No. 392, §1. Acts 1983, No. 713, §1; Acts 1984, No. 953, §1; Acts 1985, No. 371, §1, eff. July 9, 1985; Acts 1986, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 11, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1987, No. 853, §1; Acts 1990, No. 1063, §1; Acts 1990, No. 1085, §§1 and 2, eff. July 31, 1990; Acts 1991, No. 104, §1, eff. June 30, 1991; Acts 1993, No. 119, §1; Acts 1993, No. 274, §1; Acts 1993, No. 386, §1; Acts 1995, No. 512, §1; Acts 1995, No. 642, §1; Acts 1995, No. 1057, §1, eff. June 29, 1995 and Jan. 8, 1996 (1/8/96 date applicable to Dept. of Health and Hospitals only); Acts 1996, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 36, §3, eff. May 7, 1996; Acts 1999, No. 1183, §1; Acts 2008, No. 580, §6; Acts 2010, No. 777, §1; Acts 2012, No. 781, §1, eff. June 13, 2012; Acts 2012, No. 854, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 2013; Acts 2013, No. 220, §23, eff. June 11, 2013; Acts 2014, No. 791, §18; Acts 2018, No. 454, §1, eff. January 1, 2019; Acts 2019, No. 204, §1, eff. Feb. 1, 2020; Acts 2020, No. 153, §1; Acts 2021, No. 211, §§11, 13; Acts 2022, No. 663, §1, eff. August 1, 2022; R.S. 49:961 redesignated from R.S. 49:953 by Acts 2022, No. 663, §1, eff. August 1, 2022; Acts 2025, No. 98, §1, eff. August 1, 2025.