{"data":{"id":"us-nh/rsa-541-a-13--2","jurisdiction":"us-nh","citation":"RSA 541-A:13","heading":"Review by the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules.","body":"I. Within 60 days of the filing of a final proposal pursuant to RSA 541-A:12, the committee shall either approve, conditionally approve, or object to the proposed rule.\nII. (a) The director of the division of administrative rules for the office of legislative services shall notify an agency of any potential basis for objection prior to committee review in the form of a copy of the final proposal with staff comments.\n(b) An agency may amend the language of a final proposal in response to staff comments and file a request for conditional approval with the director, to be reviewed by the committee. The request and the amended final proposal language shall be submitted in writing at least 7 days prior to the meeting for which the final proposal is scheduled to be reviewed by the committee. In lieu of a written request, the committee may, for compelling reasons, accept a request from an agency for conditional approval at the meeting.\n(c) The committee may:\n(1) Approve the final proposal as filed pursuant to RSA 541-A:12; or\n(2) Conditionally approve or object to the proposed rule under paragraph V.\n(d) If the committee approves the proposal as filed pursuant to RSA 541-A:12, the director shall notify the agency of the approval in writing.\n(e) Failure of the committee to act on a proposed rule within the 60-day period under paragraph I shall be deemed approval.\nIII. If a proposal is approved under subparagraph II(c) or (e), an agency may adopt the proposed rule.\nIV. The committee may object to a proposed rule if the rule is:\n(a) Beyond the authority of the agency;\n(b) Contrary to any state or federal statute or regulation, the overall purpose of a statute, this chapter, the drafting and procedural manual, the state or federal constitution, or other applicable controlling authority;\n(c) Determined not to be in the public interest; including the existence of substantive inconsistencies between a form and the rule; or\n(d) Deemed by the committee to have a substantial economic impact not recognized in the fiscal impact statement.\nV. The following procedures shall govern committee objections and conditional approvals:\n(a) The committee may vote to conditionally approve a proposed rule that has been amended after the final proposal is filed by an agency. In such cases:\n(1) The director shall notify the agency of the committee's decision in writing and provide specific details as to the change in the language of the proposed rule required to address any basis for objection.\n(2) The agency shall file with the director a letter detailing how the text of the proposed rule was changed to meet the conditions of the approval as well as the annotated text of the rule within 30 days of the committee's decision, or in the case of a board or commission, within 7 days following its next regularly scheduled meeting.\n(3) The letter shall be signed by an individual with rulemaking authority, or a voting member of a body with rulemaking authority, provided that a quorum of the body approved the letter and rule.\n(4) If the division of administrative rules determines the agency has amended the proposal in accordance with the terms of the conditional approval, it shall notify the agency in writing, and the agency may adopt the rule.\n(5) If the division of administrative rules determines the agency has not amended the rule in accordance with the terms of the conditional approval, the conditional approval shall be deemed a preliminary objection as of the date of the conditional approval.\n(6) Failure to submit the letter and rule text shall result in the conditional approval to be deemed a preliminary objection as of the date of the conditional approval.\n(b) The committee may vote to preliminarily object to a final proposal as filed or as amended pursuant to a request for conditional approval. In such cases:\n(1) The director shall notify the agency in writing of the basis for the objection.\n(2) Upon request of the committee, the director shall send a copy of the objection to the appropriate house and senate standing policy committees and provide notice to the agency.\n(3) If an objection is sent to standing policy committees, the policy committees shall have 30 days from the date of the objection to convene an executive session to review the proposed rules and objection, adopt recommendations or comments relative to the basis for the objection, and communicate said recommendations or comments to the committee.\n(4) The committee may make an objection to a proposal on the same grounds only once, and may not add or amend grounds for an objection unless an agency response to the objection creates new grounds for objection or the agency requests a revised objection.\n(c) An agency shall respond to a preliminary objection by filing a written response with the director within 45 days of the committee's vote. The agency may withdraw the rule, amend the rule to remove the basis for objection, or make no change. Failure to respond to the committee shall terminate the rulemaking procedure and render the proposed rule invalid. An agency shall not be precluded from filing an initial proposal for a similar rule. If the committee revises its objections based on the agency response, the agency shall have 45 days to file a written response to the revised objections following the procedure outlined above.\n(d) The director shall notify an agency in writing if, after reviewing a filed preliminary objection response, the basis for a preliminary objection remains or the agency response creates new basis for objection. In such instances, the agency may request the committee approve the rule with further amendment. The request and the amended preliminary objection response language shall be submitted in writing at least 7 days prior to the meeting for which the preliminary objection response is scheduled to be reviewed by the committee. A request made in this manner shall not preclude the agency from requesting a revised objection if the committee does not approve the rule as requested.\n(e) An agency may request a revised objection from the committee, which the committee may provide one time. The agency shall have 45 days to file a written response and the committee shall review the response in the same manner as a preliminary objection. No further amendment may be made by the agency after it responds to the committee except as provided in RSA 541-A:14, II.\n(f) If after the agency responds, the basis for the committee's preliminary or revised objection has not been removed or the response creates a new basis for objection, the committee may, by majority vote of the committee, with at least 6 votes in the affirmative, vote to issue a final objection. The director shall notify the agency of the final objection in writing, which shall be published in the next issue of the rulemaking register.\nVI. A committee final objection to any provision of a rule published in the rulemaking register shall shift the burden of proof in any action for judicial review or for enforcement of the provision to the adopting agency to establish that the provision of the rule is within the scope of authority delegated to the agency; is consistent with state and federal statutes or regulations, the overall purpose of a statute implemented by the rule, this chapter, the drafting and procedural manual, the state or federal constitution, or other applicable controlling authority; is in the public interest; or does not have a substantial economic impact not recognized in the fiscal impact statement. If the agency fails to meet its burden of proof, the court shall declare the whole or a portion of the rule invalid. Failure of the committee to object to a rule shall not be an implied legislative authorization of its substantive or procedural lawfulness.\nVII. (a) The provisions of this paragraph may be used by the committee as an alternative or in addition to the final objection procedure employed by the committee in paragraph V.\n(b) If an agency responds to a preliminary or revised objection but the basis for objection has not been removed or the response creates a new basis for objection, the committee may, within 50 days from the date on which the objection response was due and by majority vote of the committee, with at least 6 votes in the affirmative, recommend legislative action through sponsorship of a joint resolution. A vote to issue a joint resolution shall prevent an agency from adopting the rule for the period specified in subparagraph VII(c).\n(c) A joint resolution shall be introduced in the house of representatives or senate within 20 business days of such vote when the general court is in session and 20 business days of the start of the following legislative session if such vote occurs when the general court is not in session. If a joint resolution is not introduced within this time frame, the agency may adopt the rule. If a joint resolution is introduced within this time frame, the agency shall be prevented from adopting and filing such rule until final legislative action is taken on the resolution or the passage of 90 consecutive calendar days during which the general court shall have been in session, whichever occurs first. The 90 calendar day period shall commence on the date such joint resolution is introduced. If the session of the general court adjourns prior to the sixtieth calendar day after the joint resolution has been introduced, then the agency shall be prevented from adopting and filing such rule until 90 calendar days, beginning with the next session of the general court, have passed.\n(d) The provisions of this paragraph shall apply to only the specific portion of an agency's rule identified in the joint resolution and shall not prevent an agency from adopting and filing the remainder of the rules in the final proposal while the committee pursues legislative action under this paragraph.\n(e) Nothing in this section shall prevent the general court from introducing legislation which addresses any matter included in a joint resolution introduced under the provisions of this section.\n(f) Notwithstanding any house or senate rules to the contrary, a joint resolution which the committee votes to sponsor under subparagraph VII(b) may be introduced at any time during the legislative session. It shall be subject to the same rules as any other bill introduced at the beginning of the legislative session.","path":["Title LV: PROCEEDINGS IN SPECIAL CASES","Chapter 541-A: ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURE ACT"],"source_url":"https://gc.nh.gov/rsa/html/LV/541-A/541-A-13.htm","current_through":"2026 regular legislative session. Last updated: September 2026","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-10-11T07:04:36Z","sha256":"eed8b745239ace11adadff95550ad367a7f98ad95a791824aaedfc126ebad053","source_id":"us-nh","stale":false,"prev":"us-nh/rsa-541-a-13","next":"us-nh/rsa-541-a-14"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}