By Gwynne Middleton

Legislators work hard to pass bills to improve the lives of Coloradans. Many of these bills include statutory rule-making authority for state agencies so that they can implement the bills legislators pass. In many cases, however, the legislator who sponsors a bill never knows what the state agency is doing to implement the bill.

In an effort to promote communication between legislators and the agencies that implement their bills, last year legislators passed Senate Bill 13-030, which requires the Office of Legislative Legal Services to inform legislators when agencies submit rules to the office to implement newly enacted legislation. Specifically, the OLLS must notify the bill sponsors and co-sponsors of a bill who are still serving in the General Assembly, as well as the current members of the committees of reference that heard the bill, when a state agency submits rules to implement the bill.

In the coming weeks, bill sponsors and co-sponsors will begin receiving e-mail notices, which will include a link to the actual rule. Legislators may receive a higher volume of email notices this month as the OLLS staff members begin sending retroactive notices. If legislators have further questions about this process, please contact Debbie Haskins.