Session Laws

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. The second paragraph of section 5 of chapter 30A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 1988 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the first sentence the following two sentences:- In addition, no rule or regulation so filed, unless filed for the purposes of setting rates within the commonwealth, shall become effective until an agency has filed with the state secretary a statement considering the impact of said regulation on small business. Such statement of consideration shall include, but not be limited, to a description of the projected reporting, record keeping and other compliance requirements of the proposed regulations, the appropriateness of performance standards versus design standards and an identification of all relevant regulations of the promulgating agency which may duplicate or conflict with the proposed regulation.

SECTION 2. Section 6 of said chapter 30A, as so appearing, is hereby amended by inserting after the second paragraph the following paragraph:-

Each issue of the Massachusetts Register shall begin with a table of contents listing the documents contained therein which shall include a brief summary for each document identifying the purpose of any proposed regulations and whether small business is likely to be substantially affected by said regulations.

SECTION 3. Said chapter 30A, as so appearing, is hereby further amended by inserting after section 6C the following two sections:-

Section 6D. The state secretary shall publish, annually, in the first issue of the Massachusetts Register a plan submitted by each executive office containing a list of regulations expected to be promulgated during the next twelve month period. The state secretary shall publish a semi-annual update of said list six months after the initial plan is published. For the purposes of this section, "executive office" shall include the board of regents and the department of education.

Section 6E. If the state secretary finds that any agency fails to comply with any provision of section six D, he shall report such noncompliance to the governor and the attorney general.