The Regulatory Development Process

• Virginia's regulatory structure
• The regulatory development process
• How to get a copy of a regulation
• How to track the process

Virginia's regulatory structure.

All of Virginia's regulations, from all state agencies, are organized according to a system set up by the Virginia Code Commission. A full, formal reference for a regulation is usually something like, "Article 44 (9 VAC 5-40-6000 et seq.) of Part II of 9 VAC 5 Chapter 40." This numbering tells you exactly where, in the larger context of all of Virginia's regulations, the individual regulation is located. The numbering system breaks down for the above example as follows:

"Article 44" = the "rule number" assigned by the department. This regulation is also known as Rule 4-44.
"Part" = A chapter may divided into several subdivisions called "parts."
"9" = Title 9, Environment
"VAC" = Virginia Administrative Code
"5" = Agency 5, State Air Pollution Control Board
"Chapter 40" = The department has assigned Chapter 40 to rules for existing stationary sources.
"...6000" = Individual section numbers in each chapter begin with 10 and progress forward, cumulatively, usually in units of 10.
"et seq." = "...and everything that follows."

For more detail on how the Regulations for the Control and Abatement are organized, click here.

The regulatory development process.

The specific tasks involved in the regulatory development process are governed primarily by the following three documents:

The Administrative Process Act is the state law that covers regulations generated by all state agencies.

The Office of the Governor has issued Executive Order 25(98), which also covers all state regulations.

The State Air Pollution Control Board has adopted formal Public Participation Procedures (9 VAC 5 Chapter 170, Part IV) that apply only to the development of the Board's regulations.

In general, the work process is similar for all projects. We:

Analyze and understand air quality problems and statutory requirements.

Develop a solution to an identified problem, or follow statutory requirements. For example, the state air toxics program was developed from scratch, whereas regulations implementing emission guidelines under section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act have very little leeway for revision or differentiation from the federal model.

Then write the regulation to implement the solution legally.

The Public Participation Procedures provide that regulations may be written with participation of an ad hoc advisory group. For more details on the role of the ad hoc group in the regulatory development process, click here.

Need more detail?

Click here to see the keys steps of the overall regulatory development process.
Detailed development and processing times for the different stages of regulatory development are found here.
Click here for a general guide on how DEQ develops regulations.
Click here for the Code Commission's overview of Virginia's regulatory development process.

How to get a copy of a regulation.

The Virginia Register, which is published every other Monday, is an official source for proposed and final regulations during the development process.

The Department of Planning and Budget's Regulatory Town Hall tracks regulatory actions through the development process, and displays proposed regulations and background documentation, as well as final regulations.

Go to the Legislative Information System (LIS) for an official on-line version of all final regulations. Note that there may be a delay between the appearance of a final regulation in the Virginia Register and its appearance in the LIS.

DEQ's web page has final regulations as pdf files, as well as links to the LIS. Every effort has been made to ensure that this text is identical to the official, legally effective version set forth in the Virginia Register. Because of publication timing issues, these regulations are generally more up-to-date than those found in the LIS. Should there be any discrepancies between the DEQ web page text and the official version of the regulation, the official version prevails.

The official printed version of all state regulations is published by a private contractor. The air regulations are in Volume 6 of the Virginia Administrative Code, and may be purchased individually. A CD-ROM version of the entire code is also available. To purchase all or part of the code book, contact The West Group, P.O. Box 64833, St. Paul, Minnesota 55164, phone 1-800-328-9352.

We maintain a mailing list of members of the public who wish to receive notices of proposed air regulations and related hearings. If you would like us to add your name to the mailing list, please complete the information in this form and mail it to: Alma Banks, Office of Air Regulatory Development,
Department of Environmental Quality, PO Box 1105, Richmond, Virginia 23218

How to keep track the process.

There are two official state channels for regulatory information:

Routinely check the Virginia Register. This is where you will find the official published versions of regulations, as well as meeting and hearing notices. It's a good way to track what other boards and agencies are doing, as well. The Virginia Register is published every other Monday.

DPB's Regulatory Town Hall is another official venue for publication of regulations, and should also be monitored regularly. This is where you can see all of our outstanding regulatory actions at a glance.

Additionally:

DEQ's Information Center contains useful information on ongoing regulatory projects.

Public meetings, hearings, and notification of public comment periods are published in at least one newspaper (generally the Richmond Times-Dispatch) region.