§ 55. Oal Review of Public Comments.

(a) OAL may consider comments submitted directly to OAL by the public in connection with emergency regulation reviews, including the review of an emergency regulation proposed to be readopted. OAL shall not consider comments submitted directly to OAL by the public when OAL is reviewing:

(1) certificate of compliance regulation filings under Government Code sections 11346.1(e) and 11349.6(d); or

(2) non-emergency regulation filings under Government Code section 11349.3 and section 100.

(b) Except when the emergency situation addressed by the regulations clearly poses such an immediate, serious harm that delaying action to allow public comment would be inconsistent with the public interest, in reviewing emergency regulations pursuant to Government Code section 11349.6(b), OAL shall consider comments received from the public concerning the proposed emergency adoption, amendment, or repeal, including comments regarding the finding of emergency, when all of the following conditions are met:

(1) The comments are submitted to OAL in writing;

(2) The comments are received by OAL within five calendar days after the notice of the filing of the proposed emergency regulations is posted by OAL on its Internet Website;

(3) The comments contain a notation that they are submitted to OAL for consideration in connection with an emergency regulation review and identify the topic of the emergency regulations to which they relate; and

(4) OAL has confirmed that a copy of the comments has been transmitted to the rulemaking agency's contact person for the emergency regulation filing, as designated by the rulemaking agency on the Form 400.

(c) OAL shall not consider comments concerning emergency regulations unless the comments meet all of the conditions specified in subsections (b)(1) through (4).

(d) Any person who submits comments concerning emergency regulations to OAL shall simultaneously transmit a complete copy of the comments to the rulemaking agency's contact person for the emergency regulation filing as designated by the rulemaking agency on the Form 400.

(e) OAL shall provide any person interested in submitting comments concerning emergency regulations with the name, address, and telephone number of the rulemaking agency's contact person for the emergency regulation filing as designated by the rulemaking agency on the Form 400.

(f) When OAL considers comments concerning emergency regulations which meet the conditions for consideration set forth in subsections (b)(1) through (4), OAL shall contact the rulemaking agency within one working day after the receipt of the comments to confirm that the comments are being considered by OAL. OAL shall inform the rulemaking agency at that time that the agency has the opportunity to rebut or otherwise respond to the comments pursuant to Government Code section 11349.6(c).

(g) OAL will consider agency rebuttals or responses to be timely as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3), OAL shall consider rulemaking agency rebuttals or responses to comments concerning emergency regulations if, and only if, they are submitted to OAL in writing and are received by OAL within eight calendar days after the receipt of the regulations.

(2) If the eighth calendar day falls on a Saturday, then the agency rebuttal or response is due on the seventh calendar day.

(3) If there are one or more state holidays between the fifth calendar day and the eighth calendar day after the regulations were filed with OAL, then the agency rebuttal or response is due on the ninth day. However, if that ninth calendar day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a state holiday, the agency's rebuttal or response is due by 10:00 a.m. of the last day the regulation must be reviewed by OAL in accordance with Government Code section 11349.6(b).

(h) For purposes of compliance with this section, OAL may elect to treat multiple substantially similar comments received from different sources as a single comment submission.

HISTORY

1. New section filed 6-26-90; operative 7-25-90 (Register 90, No. 35).

2. Amendment of section heading, new subsections (a)-(a)(2), subsection relettering, amendment of newly designated subsections (c), (f) and (g)(1) and repealer of subsections (h)-(h)(2) filed 1-8-99; operative 2-7-99 (Register 99, No. 2).

3. Amendment filed 3-27-2006; operative 3-27-2006 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4 (Register 2006, No. 13).

4. Amendment of section and Note filed 2-25-2008; operative 3-26-2008 (Register 2008, No. 9).

Note

Note: Authority cited: Sections 11342.4 and 11349.1, Government Code. Reference: Sections 11342.545, 11346.1, 11349.1, 11349.3 and 11349.6, Government Code.