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PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 05-1237

NOTICES

Notice of Comments Issued

[35 Pa.B. 3633]

   Section 5(g) of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5(g)) provides that the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (Commission) may issue comments within 30 days of the close of the public comment period. The Commission comments are based upon the criteria contained in section 5.2 of the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5b).

   The Commission has issued comments on the following proposed regulation. The agency must consider these comments in preparing the final-form regulation. The final-form regulation must be submitted within 2 years of the close of the public comment period or it will be deemed withdrawn.

Reg. No. Agency/Title Close of the Public Comment Period IRRC
Comments Issued
18-401 Department of Transportation
Administrative Practice and Procedure
35 Pa.B. 2309 (April 16, 2005)		5/16/056/15/05

Department of Transportation Regulation #18-401 (IRRC #2474)

Administrative Practice and Procedure

June 15, 2005

   We submit for your consideration the following comments that include references to the criteria in the Regulatory Review Act (71 P. S. § 745.5b) which have not been met. The Department of Transportation (Department) must respond to these comments when it submits the final-form regulation. The public comment period for this regulation closed on May 16, 2005. If the final-form regulation is not delivered within two years of the close of the public comment period, the regulation will be deemed withdrawn.

Section 491.2b. Separation of adjudicatory and adversarial functions.--Reasonableness, Clarity.

Subsection (a)(1)

   Under this subsection, it is not clear how one would be considered to be ''significantly involved'' in a proceeding. For clarity, the Department should define the term or explain the criteria used to determine who is ''significantly involved.''

Subsection (a)(2)

   This subsection contains the phrase ''substantive supervisory responsibility.'' Does the Department intend this to mean direct supervision? For clarity, this term should be defined or the Department should set forth the criteria used to determine who has ''substantive supervisory responsibility.''

Subsection (a)(3)

   This subsection states, ''Ex parte communications . . . that may create an appearance of impropriety in a matter shall be avoided.'' The phrase ''be avoided'' is not consistent with the decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the case of Lyness v. State Board of Medicine, 529 Pa. 535, 605 A.2d 1204 (1992). Therefore, the regulations should clearly prohibit ex parte communications which create the appearance of impropriety.

JOHN R. MCGINLEY, Jr.,   
Chairperson

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 05-1237. Filed for public inspection June 24, 2005, 9:00 a.m.]


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