HB 5331 Summary

• Establishes the Environmental Rules Review Committee as an independent body with voting members representing industry, business, environmental, agricultural, governmental, and public interests, plus three nonvoting state officials, to oversee Department of Environmental Quality rule-making.

• Creates a specialized rule-making process for DEQ rules where the Environmental Rules Review Committee must review draft proposed rules against five criteria (statutory authority compliance, necessity, clarity, scientific basis, and proportionality) before public hearings can be held.

• Exempts DEQ rules from standard small business impact statements and regulatory impact statements when processed through the Environmental Rules Review Committee review process, streamlining requirements for environmental regulations.

• Modifies general rule-making procedures by replacing references to "office of regulatory reform" with broader references to "the office" and clarifying that sections 41, 42, and 66 contain exceptions to standard rule-making requirements.

• Allows the Environmental Rules Review Committee to block DEQ rules that fail to meet review criteria, or approve rules subject to revisions drafted by the Legislative Service Bureau, with final decision required within 12 months of the request for rule-making.