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Administrative Rules Unit
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Contact Information
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Overview
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The Administrative Rules Unit has responsibility for amending existing rules, repealing outdated rules, and creating new rules. This page is maintained to keep the public informed about the rulemaking activities at the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT).
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What Are Administrative Rules?
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An Administrative Rule is an agency statement of general applicability that implements, interprets or prescribes law or policy, or describes the procedure or practice requirements of an agency. State agencies are required to make rules in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, under A.R.S. Title 41, Chapter 6.
The authority for state agencies to create rules comes from Arizona Revised Statutes. ADOT has general authority to make rules as provided under A.R.S. § 28-366. Generally, legislation is passed establishing broad guidelines and general standards for the operation of a program. It is then up to the impacted state agency to create rules for the specific processes and procedures needed to effectively implement statute.
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How Do Agencies Make Rules?
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Each rulemaking has a number of steps, most of which are intended to provide notice to the public that the agency is making rules and to give the public a chance to comment and be involved.
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The Seven Basic Steps in the Regular Rulemaking Process
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- Notice of Docket Opening. A Notice of Docket Opening is published in the Arizona Administrative Register to notify the public that the agency is considering changes to the referenced rules.
- Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking is published in the Arizona Administrative Register to notify the public of the proposed additions, deletions or changes to agency rules.
- Comment period. Once a rule is proposed, the public has at least 30 days in which to submit comments to the agency in regard to the rule. Comments are limited to the scope of the rule. The closing date for the public comment period is published in the Arizona Administrative Register.
Note: Comments are statements, suggested rule language, data, views or other observations submitted to an agency in regard to an existing or proposed rule. Formal (written or oral) comments may be submitted during the official public comment period for a particular rulemaking and will become part of the official record of the proposed rulemaking. However, the public may comment on an agency's existing rules at any time. The most effective way to comment on existing rules is in writing; identify the rule or rules at issue and address your comment to the specific program, office or contact person within the agency that administers the rule.
- Oral Proceeding.A Notice of Oral Proceeding is published in the Arizona Administrative Register to notify the public of a formal proceeding on a proposed rule.
Note: Although an Oral Proceeding may not be scheduled for every rulemaking, a state agency will always provide the public with an opportunity to request an Oral Proceeding.
- Submittal to Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC). The agency submits the final rulemaking package to the Governor's Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) for approval. GRRC will review the final rule package to ensure that the rules are necessary, consistent with legislative intent, and within the agency's statutory authority.
- Approval by GRRC. When GRRC has completed its review and finds that the rulemaking meets the criteria identified above, GRRC will approve the rulemaking.
- Effective date. The approved rulemaking package is filed, by GRRC, with the Secretary of State's office. The effective date of the rule is usually 60 days from the date of filing or immediately effective if authorized by statute and specified in the rulemaking.
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What are the Arizona Administrative Code and the Arizona Administrative Register?
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The two most referred to publications for rules are the Arizona Administrative Code and the Arizona Administrative Register. These documents are published by the Secretary of State’s Office.
The Arizona Administrative Code codifies the rules made by all State of Arizona agencies. The Code is updated on a quarterly basis. ADOT's rules are located under Title 17 of the Administrative Code. Title 17 consists of Chapters, Articles, and Sections relating to the various programs within ADOT. The Sections contain the actual rules and are labeled to help identify where a particular rule is located. For example: R17-2-101. The "R" indicates that the citation refers to a rule. The number "17" indicates that the rule is under Title 17. The "2" indicates that the rule is under Chapter 2 of that Title. The "101" indicates the rule is Section 101 of that Chapter.
The Arizona Administrative Register is the public record of all rulemaking activity by state agencies. The Register contains the text of proposed and final rules as well as a variety of other official notices; such as a Notice of Public Information, County Notice, or a Governor's Executive Order.
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ADOT’s Current Rulemaking Activities
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ADOT's current rulemaking activity is provided to allow the public to view all proposed rule packages as well as final rule packages that have not yet been published in the Arizona Administrative Code.
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ADOT's Current Administrative Rules
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Below is a copy of the most recent version of ADOT's administrative rules from the Arizona Administrative Code published by the Secretary of State's Office. To view the rules, Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. Please note that these files are not official copies of the rules. The official text is published in paper form by the Secretary of State’s Office.
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