Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 227 - Administrative procedure and review.
227.135 - Statements of scope of proposed rules.

227.135 Statements of scope of proposed rules.
(1) An agency shall prepare a statement of the scope of any rule that it plans to promulgate. The statement shall include all of the following:
(a) A description of the objective of the rule.
(b) A description of existing policies relevant to the rule and of new policies proposed to be included in the rule and an analysis of policy alternatives.
(c) The statutory authority for the rule.
(d) Estimates of the amount of time that state employees will spend to develop the rule and of other resources necessary to develop the rule.
(e) A description of all of the entities that may be affected by the rule.
(f) A summary and preliminary comparison of any existing or proposed federal regulation that is intended to address the activities to be regulated by the rule.
(2) An agency that has prepared a statement of the scope of the proposed rule shall present the statement to the department of administration, which shall make a determination as to whether the agency has the explicit authority to promulgate the rule as proposed in the statement of scope and shall report the statement of scope and its determination to the governor who, in his or her discretion, may approve or reject the statement of scope. The agency may not send the statement to the legislative reference bureau for publication under sub. (3) until the governor issues a written notice of approval of the statement. The agency shall also present the statement to the individual or body with policy-making powers over the subject matter of the proposed rule for approval. The individual or body with policy-making powers may not approve the statement until at least 10 days after publication of the statement under sub. (3) and, if a preliminary public hearing and comment period are held by the agency under s. 227.136, until the individual or body has received and reviewed any public comments and feedback received from the agency under s. 227.136 (5). No state employee or official may perform any activity in connection with the drafting of a proposed rule, except for an activity necessary to prepare the statement of the scope of the proposed rule until the governor and the individual or body with policy-making powers over the subject matter of the proposed rule approve the statement. This subsection does not prohibit an agency from performing an activity necessary to prepare a petition and proposed rule for submission under s. 227.26 (4).
(3) If the governor approves a statement of the scope of a proposed rule under sub. (2), the agency shall send an electronic copy of the statement to the legislative reference bureau, in a format approved by the legislative reference bureau, for publication in the register. On the same day that the agency sends the statement to the legislative reference bureau, the agency shall send a copy of the statement to the secretary of administration and to the chief clerks of each house of the legislature, who shall distribute the statement to the cochairpersons of the joint committee for review of administrative rules. The agency shall include with any statement of scope sent to the legislative reference bureau the date of the governor's approval of the statement of scope. The legislative reference bureau shall assign a discrete identifying number to each statement of scope and shall include that number and the date of the governor's approval in the publication of the statement of scope in the register.
(4) If at any time after a statement of the scope of a proposed rule is approved under sub. (2) the agency changes the scope of the proposed rule in any meaningful or measurable way, including changing the scope of the proposed rule so as to include in the scope any activity, business, material, or product that is not specifically included in the original scope of the proposed rule, the agency shall prepare and obtain approval of a revised statement of the scope of the proposed rule in the same manner as the original statement was prepared and approved under subs. (1) and (2). No state employee or official may perform any activity in connection with the drafting of the proposed rule except for an activity necessary to prepare the revised statement of the scope of the proposed rule until the revised statement is so approved.
(5) A statement of scope shall expire on the date that is 30 months after the date on which it is published in the register. After a statement of scope expires, an agency may not submit a proposed rule based upon that statement of scope to the legislature for review under s. 227.19 (2), and any such rule that has not been submitted to the legislature for review before that date shall be considered withdrawn on that date as provided in s. 227.14 (6) (c) 1. a. For purposes of this subsection, a revised statement of scope prepared under sub. (4) shall expire on the date that is 30 months after the date on which the revised statement is published in the register.
History: 1995 a. 106; 2003 a. 118, 145; 2005 a. 249; 2007 a. 20; 2011 a. 21; 2013 a. 20, 165; 2017 a. 39, 57, 108.
The requirement that agencies receive gubernatorial approval under sub. (2) prior to drafting a proposed rule, and again under s. 227.185 before submitting the rule to the legislature, is constitutional as applied to the state superintendent of public instruction and the Department of Public Instruction. Koschkee v. Taylor, 2019 WI 76, 387 Wis. 2d 552, 929 N.W.2d 600, 17-2278.
Under sub. (4), there is a change to the scope of a proposed rule only when the agency changes a draft rule under consideration in a way that meaningfully or measurably departs from the topics described in the previously authorized scope statement. There is no need for a revised scope statement if all of the topics covered in both the initial and changed versions of the draft rule fit within the range of topics for potential rules described in the previously authorized scope statement. Applegate-Bader Farm, LLC v. DOR, 2020 WI App 7, 390 Wis. 2d 708, 940 N.W.2d 725, 18-1239.
Reversed on other grounds. 2021 WI 26, 396 Wis. 2d 69, 955 N.W.2d 793, 18-1239.
Practice Tips: Finding Administrative Intent in the Wisconsin Administrative Register. Sefarbi. Wis. Law. Apr. 2003.
Changing the Rules on Rulemaking. Sklansky. Wis. Law. Aug. 2011.

Structure Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations