Amends TCA Title 4, Chapter 5.

This bill changes the approval process, filing requirements, and effective date of emergency rules. PRESENT LAW Under present law, the provisions governing the adoption of emergency rules provide the following: (1) An agency may, upon stating its reason in writing for making such finds, proceed without prior notice or hearing to adopt an emergency rule, if the agency finds that: (A) An immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare exists, and the nature of this danger is such that the use of any other form of rulemaking authorized under the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act would not adequately protect the public; (B) The rule only delays the effective date of another rule that is not yet effective; (C) It is required by the constitution or court order; (D) It is required by an agency of the federal government and adoption of the rule through ordinary rulemaking procedures might jeopardize the loss of a federal program or funds; or (E) The agency is required by an enactment of the general assembly to implement rules within a prescribed period of time that precludes utilization of rulemaking procedures for the promulgation of permanent rules; (2) The emergency rule becomes effective immediately upon a copy of the rule and a copy of the written statement of the reason for the rule being filed with the secretary of state; and (3) The emergency rule may be effective for a period of not longer than 180 days. An agency is prohibited from adopting the same or a substantially similar emergency rule within one calendar year from its first adoption, unless the agency clearly establishes that it could not reasonably be foreseen during the initial 180-day period that the emergency would continue or would likely recur during the next nine months. The adoption of the same or substantially similar rule through ordinary rulemaking procedure takes precedence over an emergency rule. THIS BILL This bill revises the above-described provisions, as follows: (1) This bill revises the present law provision described above in (1) so that an emergency rule may be adopted if the joint operations committees of the house and senate, instead of the agency, find one of the circumstances listed above in (1)(A)-(E) exists. Under this bill, the agency must file with the secretary of state and the chairs of the house and senate government operations committees the emergency rule and a written statement of the reasons for the rule being filed; and (2) This bill rewrites the provisions described above in item (2) to instead provide the following: (A) The government operations committees must review an emergency rule within 30 days of the rule being filed. In conducting the review, the committees must hold a public hearing to receive testimony from the public and from the administrative head of the agency, at which time the committees, acting jointly, may disapprove the emergency rule if the emergency rule does not, in the committees' judgment, meet the requirements of the present law provisions described above in (1)(A)-(E); (B) Notice of the government operations committees' completed review or review and disapproval of an emergency rule, must be posted on the secretary of state's website as soon as possible after the committees' completed review; and (C) If an emergency rule is not disapproved by the government operations committees, then the emergency rule becomes effective upon the notice of the completed review being posted.