Department of Government Operations. Office of Administrative Rules

Since its inception, DAR has been responsible for establishing procedures for administrative rulemaking, recording administrative rules, making administrative rules available to the public, publishing semimonthly the proposed administrative rules of the state (the Utah State Bulletin and the Utah State Digest ), compiling and codifying all current rules in an administrative code (the Utah Administrative Code), printing and distributing copies of the Code, Bulletin, and Digest, and enforcing the requirements of the Rulemaking Act.

DAR is administered by a division director, who is appointed by the executive director of DAS with the approval of the Governor. A fourteen-member Administrative Rules Review Committee is charged with exercising continuous oversight of the process of rulemaking, of which ten members are permanent and four are ex officio. Permanent membership is comprised of five state senators, appointed by the president of the state senate, and five state representatives, appointed by the speaker of the house. No more than three senators (or three representatives) may be from the same political party. Prior to 1996, this Committee consisted of three senators and three representatives, of which no more than two of either could be from the same political party. In addition, the Administrative Rules Review Section (a statutory body from the Governor's Office of Planning and Budget, #762) has coordinated with DAR in reviewing rules since its creation in March 1988.

The Office of Administrative Rules, forerunner to the Division of Administrative Rules, was administratively created within the Division of State Archives (UTSVH00011-A) in September 1984. It was made a division in 1985 by the 46th State Legislature. The mission is to "promote state legal security and public access to government through publication of rules and enforcement of rulemaking requirements."

In 1973 the Fortieth State Legislature established rulemaking oversight as a function of the State Archives through passage of the Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act. Recognizing a need to improve the rulemaking process, the State Archivist in September 1984 hired a coordinator who was charged with the responsibility to reform rulemaking and to bring Utah administrative rules up to date. Soon afterward, the Office of Administrative Rules was established. A reform program was developed and implemented.

In 1985, the Forty-sixth State Legislature revised the 1973 Utah Administrative Rulemaking Act and made DAR independent of the State Archives. Further amendments affecting rulemaking were passed by the Forty-seventh State Legislature in 1987, one of which elevated Administrative Rules to division status within the Department of Administrative Services (#270).