Title 42
State Affairs and Government

Chapter 35
Administrative Procedures

R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-35-2.9

§ 42-35-2.9. Regulatory analysis.

(a) An agency shall prepare a regulatory analysis for a proposed rule. The analysis must be completed before notice of the proposed rulemaking is published. The summary of the analysis prepared under subsection (c) must be published with the notice of proposed rulemaking.

(b) A regulatory analysis must contain:

(1) An analysis of the benefits and costs of a reasonable range of regulatory alternatives reflecting the scope of discretion provided by the statute authorizing the proposed rule;

(2) Demonstration that there is no alternative approach among the alternatives considered during the rulemaking proceeding which would be as effective and less burdensome to affected private persons as another regulation. This standard requires that an agency proposing to write any new regulation must identify any other state regulation which is overlapped or duplicated by the proposed regulation and justify any overlap or duplication; and

(3) A determination whether:

(i) The benefits of the proposed rule justify the costs of the proposed rule; and

(ii) The proposed rule will achieve the objectives of the authorizing statute in a more cost-effective manner, or with greater net benefits, than other regulatory alternatives.

(iii) An agency preparing a regulatory analysis under this section shall prepare a concise summary of the analysis.

(iv) If an agency has made a good-faith effort to comply with this section, a rule is not invalid solely if there are errors or paucity of data in the regulatory analysis for the proposed rule.

History of Section.
P.L. 2016, ch. 203, § 3; P.L. 2016, ch. 206, § 3.