Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

3.842 REVIEW OF RULES BY COMMISSION OR COMMITTEE.
    Subdivision 1. Purpose. The commission shall promote adequate and proper rules by
agencies and an understanding upon the part of the public respecting them.
    Subd. 2. Jurisdiction. The jurisdiction of the commission includes all rules as defined in
section 14.02, subdivision 4. The commission also has jurisdiction of rules filed with the secretary
of state in accordance with sections 14.38, subdivisions 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11; 14.386; and 14.388.
The commission may periodically review statutory exemptions to the rulemaking provisions
of this chapter.
    Subd. 3. Hearings. The commission may hold public hearings to investigate complaints with
respect to rules if it considers the complaints meritorious and worthy of attention. If the rules that
are the subject of the public hearing were adopted without a rulemaking hearing, it may request
the Office of Administrative Hearings to hold the public hearing and prepare a report summarizing
the testimony received at the hearing. The Office of Administrative Hearings shall assess the costs
of the public hearing to the agency whose rules are the subject of the hearing.
    Subd. 4.[Repealed, 1997 c 98 s 17]
    Subd. 4a. Objections to rules. (a) For purposes of this subdivision, "committee" means the
house of representatives policy committee or senate policy committee with primary jurisdiction
over state governmental operations. The commission or a committee may object to a rule as
provided in this subdivision. If the commission or a committee objects to all or some portion of a
rule because the commission or committee considers it to be beyond the procedural or substantive
authority delegated to the agency, including a proposed rule submitted under section 14.15,
subdivision 4
, or 14.26, subdivision 3, paragraph (c), the commission or committee may file that
objection in the Office of the Secretary of State. The filed objection must contain a concise
statement of the commission's or committee's reasons for its action. An objection to a proposed
rule submitted by the commission or a committee under section 14.15, subdivision 4, or 14.26,
subdivision 3
, paragraph (c), may not be filed before the rule is adopted.
(b) The secretary of state shall affix to each objection a certification of the date and time
of its filing and as soon after the objection is filed as practicable shall transmit a certified copy
of it to the agency issuing the rule in question and to the revisor of statutes. The secretary of
state shall also maintain a permanent register open to public inspection of all objections by the
commission or committee.
(c) The commission or committee shall publish and index an objection filed under this
section in the next issue of the State Register. The revisor of statutes shall indicate the existence of
the objection adjacent to the rule in question when that rule is published in Minnesota Rules.
(d) Within 14 days after the filing of an objection by the commission or committee to a rule,
the issuing agency shall respond in writing to the objecting entity. After receipt of the response,
the commission or committee may withdraw or modify its objection.
(e) After the filing of an objection by the commission or committee that is not subsequently
withdrawn, the burden is upon the agency in any proceeding for judicial review or for enforcement
of the rule to establish that the whole or portion of the rule objected to is valid.
(f) The failure of the commission or a committee to object to a rule is not an implied
legislative authorization of its validity.
(g) In accordance with sections 14.44 and 14.45, the commission or a committee may petition
for a declaratory judgment to determine the validity of a rule objected to by the commission or
committee. The action must be started within two years after an objection is filed in the Office of
the Secretary of State.
(h) The commission or a committee may intervene in litigation arising from agency action.
For purposes of this paragraph, agency action means the whole or part of a rule, or the failure
to issue a rule.
    Subd. 5.[Repealed, 1997 c 98 s 17]
    Subd. 6.[Repealed, 1997 c 98 s 17]
    Subd. 7.[Repealed, 1997 c 98 s 17]
History: 1974 c 355 s 69; 1975 c 271 s 6; 1980 c 615 s 1; 1980 c 618 s 26; 1981 c 112 s 1,2;
1981 c 253 s 1; 1981 c 342 art 2 s 1; 1982 c 424 s 130; 1984 c 655 art 1 s 4; 1Sp1985 c 13 s 84;
1989 c 155 s 2,6; 1994 c 629 s 2,3; 1995 c 233 art 2 s 1-3; 1997 c 98 s 2,3; 2000 c 469 s 1

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes