Section 19 Agency Power to Promulgate Rules

• Library: Administrative Law 2011

Section 536.021, RSMo Supp. 2010, mandates the procedural requirements for legally valid notice and comment rulemaking by Missouri administrative agencies—a subject covered extensively in Chapter 2 of this deskbook. Compliance with these rulemaking requirements is a question of law for the reviewing court, and an agency’s failure to follow the rulemaking requirements prescribed by § 536.021 renders the rule void. NME Hosps., Inc. v. Dep’t of Soc. Servs., Div. of Med. Servs., 850 S.W.2d 71 (Mo. banc 1993).

Only rules promulgated by an administrative agency with properly delegated authority have the force and effect of law, and an agency may promulgate administrative rules only to the extent and within the scope of the legislative authority conferred on the agency. Dir., Mo. Dep’t of Pub. Safety v. Murr, 11 S.W.3d 91, 96 (Mo. App. W.D. 2000); King v. Div. of Employment Sec., 964 S.W.2d 832, 835–36 (Mo. App. W.D. 1997). While delegation of rulemaking authority to an agency may be derived expressly or by implication from a statute, agency rulemaking power may
be implied only if it follows...