Section 13 Rulemaking Hearings

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

The agency must invite public comment on its intended action, either through a public hearing, the submission of written comments, or both.

If an agency is required by statute to hold a hearing before making a rule or if it wishes to hold one regardless of the statutory provisions (as it is certainly allowed to do), it must publish the hearing date in the notice of proposed rulemaking. The date must be at least 30 days after the notice is published.

Absent a specific procedure prescribed by the statute granting the rulemaking authority, the agency decides what kind of hearing it prefers to conduct. There is no constitutional right to a hearing in rulemaking proceedings...