N.Y. State Administrative Procedure Act § 102: Definitions

§ 102. Definitions. As used in this chapter,

* 1. "Agency" means any department, board, bureau, commission,

division, office, council, committee or officer of the state, or a

public benefit corporation or public authority at least one of whose

members is appointed by the governor, authorized by law to make rules or

to make final decisions in adjudicatory proceedings but shall not

include the governor, agencies in the legislative and judicial branches,

agencies created by interstate compact or international agreement, the

division of military and naval affairs to the extent it exercises its

responsibility for military and naval affairs, the division of state

police, the identification and intelligence unit of the division of

criminal justice services, the state insurance fund, the unemployment

insurance appeal board, and except for purposes of subdivision one of

section two hundred two-d and section two hundred two-f of this chapter,

the workers' compensation board and except for purposes of article two

of this chapter, the department of corrections and community

supervision.

* NB Effective until January 1, 2027

* 1. "Agency" means any department, board, bureau, commission,

division, office, council, committee or officer of the state, or a

public benefit corporation or public authority at least one of whose

members is appointed by the governor, authorized by law to make rules or

to make final decisions in adjudicatory proceedings but shall not

include the governor, agencies in the legislative and judicial branches,

agencies created by interstate compact or international agreement, the

division of military and naval affairs to the extent it exercises its

responsibility for military and naval affairs, the division of state

police, the identification and intelligence unit of the division of

criminal justice services, the state insurance fund, the unemployment

insurance appeal board, and except for purposes of subdivision one of

section two hundred two-d of this chapter, the workers' compensation

board and except for purposes of article two of this chapter, the

department of corrections and community supervision.

* NB Effective January 1, 2027

2. (a) "Rule" means (i) the whole or part of each agency statement,

regulation or code of general applicability that implements or applies

law, or prescribes a fee charged by or paid to any agency or the

procedure or practice requirements of any agency, including the

amendment, suspension or repeal thereof and (ii) the amendment,

suspension, repeal, approval, or prescription for the future of rates,

wages, security authorizations, corporate or financial structures or

reorganization thereof, prices, facilities, appliances, services or

allowances therefor or of valuations, costs or accounting, or practices

bearing on any of the foregoing whether of general or particular

applicability.

(b) Not included within paragraph (a) of this subdivision are:

(i) rules concerning the internal management of the agency which do

not directly and significantly affect the rights of or procedures or

practices available to the public;

(ii) rules relating to the use of public works, including streets and

highways, when the substance of such rules is indicated to the public by

means of signs or signals;

(iii) rulings issued under section two hundred four or two hundred

five of this chapter;

(iv) forms and instructions, interpretive statements and statements of

general policy which in themselves have no legal effect but are merely

explanatory;

(v) rules promulgated to implement agreements pursuant to article

fourteen of the civil service law;

(vi) rates of interest prescribed by the superintendent of financial

services pursuant to section fourteen-a of the banking law;

(vii) rules relating to the approval or disapproval of subscriber

rates contained in an application to the public service commission,

after public hearing and approval by the applicable municipality for a

certificate of confirmation or an amendment to a franchise agreement;

(viii) appraisal models, discount rates, state equalization rates,

class ratios, special equalization rates and special equalization ratios

established pursuant to the real property tax law;

(ix) rates subject to prior approval by the superintendent of

financial services or to section two thousand three hundred forty-four

of the insurance law;

(x) any regulation promulgating an interim price and any final

marketing order made by the commissioner of agriculture and markets

pursuant to section two hundred fifty-eight-m of the agriculture and

markets law;

(xi) any fee which is:

(1) set by statute;

(2) less than one hundred dollars;

(3) one hundred dollars or more and can reasonably be expected to

result in an annual aggregate collection of not more than one thousand

dollars;

(4) established through negotiation, written agreement or competitive

bidding, including, but not limited to, contracts, leases, charges,

permits for space use, prices, royalties or commissions; or

(5) a charge or assessment levied by an agency upon another agency or

by an agency upon another unit of state government.

(xii) changes in a schedule filed by a telephone corporation subject

to the jurisdiction of the public service commission;

(xiii) rules relating to requests for authority by a telephone

corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the public service commission

under sections ninety-nine, one hundred and one hundred one of the

public service law and by a public utility subject to the jurisdiction

of the public service commission under section one hundred seven of the

public service law;

(xiv) any regulation comprised solely of one or more additions to the

list of nonprescription drugs reimbursable under the medicaid program

pursuant to paragraph (a) of subdivision four of section three hundred

sixty-five-a of the social services law.

3. "Adjudicatory proceeding" means any activity which is not a rule

making proceeding or an employee disciplinary action before an agency,

except an administrative tribunal created by statute to hear or

determine allegations of traffic infractions which may also be heard in

a court of appropriate jurisdiction, in which a determination of the

legal rights, duties or privileges of named parties thereto is required

by law to be made only on a record and after an opportunity for a

hearing.

4. "License" includes the whole or part of any agency permit,

certificate, approval, registration, charter, or similar form of

permission required by law.

5. "Licensing" includes any agency activity respecting the grant,

denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, recall,

cancellation or amendment of a license.

6. "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation,

association, or public or private organization of any character other

than an agency engaged in the particular rule making, declaratory

ruling, or adjudication.

7. "Party" means any person or agency named or admitted as a party or

properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party; but

nothing herein shall be construed to prevent an agency from admitting

any person or agency as a party for limited purposes.

8. "Small business" means any business which is resident in this

state, independently owned and operated, and employs one hundred or less

individuals.

9. "Substantial revision" means any addition, deletion or other change

in the text of a rule proposed for adoption, which materially alters its

purpose, meaning or effect, but shall not include any change which

merely defines or clarifies such text and does not materially alter its

purpose, meaning or effect. To determine if the revised text of a

proposed rule contains a substantial revision, the revised text shall be

compared to the text of the rule for which a notice of proposed rule

making was published in the state register; provided, however, if a

notice of revised rule making was previously published in the state

register, the revised text shall be compared to the revised text for

which the most recent notice of revised rule making was published.

10. "Rural area" means those portions of the state so defined by

subdivision seven of section four hundred eighty-one of the executive

law.

11. "Consensus rule" means a rule proposed by an agency for adoption

on an expedited basis pursuant to the expectation that no person is

likely to object to its adoption because it merely (a) repeals

regulatory provisions which are no longer applicable to any person, (b)

implements or conforms to non-discretionary statutory provisions, or (c)

makes technical changes or is otherwise non-controversial.

13. "Data" means written information or material, including, but not

limited to, statistics or measurements used as the basis for reasoning,

calculations or conclusions in a study.

14. "Guidance document" means any guideline, memorandum or similar

document prepared by an agency that provides general information or

guidance to assist regulated parties in complying with any statute, rule

or other legal requirement, but shall not include documents that concern

only the internal management of the agency or declaratory rulings issued

pursuant to section two hundred four of this chapter.