Oklahoma Sources for Agency Regulations

Oklahoma Administrative Procedures Act 75 O.S. 250 et seq.

The Administrative Procedures Act provides the means for agency promulgation of regulations to carry out legislative statutory policy. It provides agencies with notification requirements, establishes the vehicles for that notice: the Oklahoma Register and the Oklahoma Administrative Code, provides means of adjudication and appeal under regulatory rules and outlines the legislative oversight that allows the legislature to monitor agency regulatory functions.

• 75 O.S. 250.9 Establishes the Office of Administrative Rules in the Secretary of State's Office and gives this office the responsibility for publication of the Oklahoma Register and the Oklahoma Administrative Code.

Oklahoma Register

• 75 O.S. 255 Authorizes the publication of the Oklahoma Register. The Statute directs that the Register be issued not less than monthly and include "new rules, any amendment, revision or revocation of an existing rule, emergency rule, any notices of such rulemaking process and Executive Orders as are required by law to be published."

The Oklahoma Register is similar in function to the Federal Register. It is the vehicle to notify the public of new or proposed rules and of any change to an existing rule.

Frequency - The Oklahoma Register is issued semi-monthly on the first working day of the month and the first working day following the 14th day of the month. The issues are numbered within a volume.

Content of Issues

Issues of the Register may include any or all of the following:

• Table of Contents for the issue.
• Agency/Action/Subject Index - This index covers the contents of the individual issue and is not cumulative.
• Rules Affecting Index - This feature updates regulations in the Oklahoma Administrative Code by indicating any code section which has been affected by a change reported in a previous Register issue within a volume. The index is cumulative in each issue of a volume.
• Agency/Title - This index contains the agencies and the Oklahoma Administrative Code Title assigned to that Agency.
• Notices of Rulemaking Intent required by 75 O.S. 303. - Summaries of the new or amended rule, comment period, scheduled hearings, statutory authority, contact person for comments and information.
• Continued Hearings/Comment Periods - Extended public comment periods.
• Submissions for Review - These rules are those adopted by the agency and sent on to the legislature and to the Governor for review.
• Gubernatorial Approvals - The rules approved by the Governor are published in the Register.
• Emergency Adoptions - There is an expedited rulemaking process in certain circumstances contingent upon the Governor's approval. Emergency rules are published as final with the Governor's approval.
• Executive Orders of the Governor
• Local Projects - Announcements of contracts for local projects which receive state funding.
• Miscellaneous

Citation

Volume Number Okla. Register page number (Month Date,Year)[ALWD Citation Manual 2d ed. Appendix 1]

Oklahoma Administrative Code

• 75 O.S. 256 Authorizes the publication of the Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC). The OAC is by statute to codify, compile, index and publish agency rules and Executive Orders. The OAC is the only official publication of Oklahoma's rules and executive orders.

Frequency - The Oklahoma Administrative Code shall be published and supplemented or revised annually.

The OAC will be supplemented by annual cumulative supplements. The current edition is the 2006 edition. The Oklahoma Register updates the OAC between the annual supplements.

Arrangement of the OAC - The OAC is organized by state agency. Each agency has been assigned a Title number which is further subdivided by Chapters, Subchapters, Parts and Sections.

Citation - Okla. Admin. Code Section number (Year) [ALWD Citation Manual 2d ed. Appendix 1]

Online Sources for the Oklahoma Administrative Code and Register

Oklahoma State Courts Network http://www.oscn.net or the Office of Administrative Rules

http://www.sos.state.ok.us/oar/oar_welcome.htm

The Oklahoma Administrative Code and the Oklahoma Register that are available online are the unofficial versions. The print version of each is considered the official.

Online versions of the OAC and the Register allow browsing through titles and word searching the text of the documents.

Currency of the OAC is noted on the Welcome page.

WESTLAW

The OAC is full text on WESTLAW. The text of the OAC on WESTLAW includes the 2006 edition.

LEXIS

The OAC is full text on LEXIS. The text includes the 2006 edition of the OAC. There is a separate database for the Oklahoma Register which is updated and kept current.