The Legislature’s Administrative Rules Review Committee (ARRC) met on Monday, September 20, 2010. As part of the agenda, the ARRC followed-up on the use, in statute and rule, of the phrase “liberally construed”.
Three interim committees — Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Environment; Health and Human Services; and Workforce Services and Community and Economic Development — responded to the ARRC’s request that interim committees review statutes and rules under their preview that contain the phrase. Both Natural Resources and Workforce Services reported back that the existing language that included the phrase should be left as is. Health and Human Services reported back that one instance — in a rule under Title R392 — would be removed by the Department of Health.
Concluding the discussion, Sen. Gene Davis made a motion, roughly summarized, to have the committee look at any new rules that use the phrase “liberally construed” particularly focusing on the rules’ relationship with statute; have staff coordinate with the working group that has been created in the House of Representative that is currently examining the use of the phrase; and review existing occurrences of the phrase in rule on a case-by-case basis as the chairs determine appropriate.