NOTICES
INDEPENDENT REGULATORY REVIEW COMMISSION
Notice of Comments Issued
[30 Pa.B. 4396] Section 5(d) and (g) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5(d) and (g)) provides that the designated standing committees may issue comments within 20 days of the close of the public comment period, and the Commission may issue comments within 10 days of the close of the committee comment period. The Commission comments are based upon the criteria contained in subsections (h) and (i) of the Regulatory Review Act (75 P. S. § 745.5a(h) and (i)).
The Commission has issued comments on the following proposed regulations. The agency must consider these comments in preparing the final-form regulation. The final-form regulations must be submitted by the dates indicated.
Final-Form Submission Reg. No. Agency/Title Issued Deadline 106-5 Environmental Hearing
Board
Practice and Procedure8/3/00 7/03/02
Environmental Hearing Board Regulation No. 106-5
Practice and Procedure August 3, 2000
We submit for consideration the following objections and recommendations regarding this regulation. Each objection or recommendation includes a reference to the criteria in the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5a(h) and (i)) which has not been met. The Environmental Hearing Board (Board) must respond to these Comments when it submits the final-form regulation. If the final-form regulation is not delivered by July 3, 2002, the regulation will be deemed withdrawn.
1. Section 1021.24. Referral of pro se parties to pro bono counsel.--Reasonableness and Clarity.
Determining need
Subsection (a) authorizes the Secretary of the Board (Secretary) to refer parties to pro bono counsel ''who claim not to be able to afford a lawyer. . . .'' How the Secretary will verify a party's claim that they are unable to pay for legal services is unclear. Therefore, the Board should include criteria and a process for verifying a party's financial need for pro bono representation in the final-form regulation.
Subsection (a)(3)
Subsection (a)(3) allows the Secretary to refer parties to ''[A]n individual attorney, law firm or organization . . . who have volunteered to take on the representation.'' (Emphasis added.) The phrase ''the representation'' is unclear. The article ''the'' preceding ''representation'' denotes that the individual attorney, law firm or organization have agreed to accept a specific case, instead of simply making their services available for pro bono services. The Board should amend this phrase to denote that an individual attorney, law firm or organization are available to provide pro bono services, generally.
Subsection (b)
We have a number of concerns with subsection (b). First, this subsection lists the requirements to participate on the Board's register of attorneys. Included in this list is that the attorney ''must have indicated a willingness and commitment not to charge any fee for his or her services.'' The phrase ''willingness and commitment'' is vague. The Board should clarify this requirement to reflect that any individual attorney, law firm or organization that wishes to register for pro bono work must agree not to charge for their services, but are able to charge the reasonable expenses for the litigation.
Second, the process for registering with the Secretary is unclear. Do interested parties need to fill out an application? Will the Board conduct interviews with prospective registrants? The Board should outline the process for registering with the Secretary in the final-form regulation.
Finally, we question whether there is a mechanism in place for purging attorneys, law firms and organizations that may no longer want to participate in the Secretary's register. The final-form regulation should include a process for maintaining this list.
2. Section 1021.54. Substitution of parties.--Clarity.
Election
Subsection (a) allows a person to succeed to ''the interests of a party to an appeal by operation of law, election, appointment or transfer of interest . . . .'' The term ''election'' as used in this phrase is unclear. We understand that, in this instance, ''election'' pertains to ''election to public office.'' For clarity, the Board should add ''to public office'' after ''election.''
JOHN R. MCGINLEY, Jr.,
Chairperson
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 00-1434. Filed for public inspection August 18, 2000, 9:00 a.m.]
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