Sponsor Statement for HB 338

HB 338 prohibits the adoption of regulations by state agencies, annuls regulations formally adopted by agencies and repeals provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.

The legislation doesn't change any existing law. It repeals all regulations and adopts them into statute. The legislature will then have an opportunity to work on them and revise them.

In 1980, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the legislature could not annul a regulation of an agency or department by concurrent resolution because it was a violation of Article II of the Alaska Constitution.

HB 338 is a constitutional remedy of bringing the lawmaking process back to the legislative branch of government where it belongs. . Half the laws that we operate under in the State of Alaska are not passed by the legislature. They are regulations enacted by state bureaucracies.

HB 338 will give the public a forum to address their grievances and the public will now know who is responsible and accountable for their laws.