Idaho agencies race to reauthorize administrative rules

State agencies in Idaho are racing to beat a Friday deadline to keep alive thousands of administrative rules after the Legislature’s House of Representatives in April killed a bill reauthorizing them.

Republican Gov. Brad Little directed state agencies to submit temporary and pending rules by Friday to be vetted before publication in a special Idaho Administrative Bulletin on June 19.

A 21-day public comment period follows before the rules can attain temporary status by July 1 and remain in effect.

Many state agencies have started the process, and on Wednesday the Idaho Oil and Gas Conservation Commission in a special meeting voted 4-0 to authorize the Idaho Department of Lands to initiate temporary rulemaking on the agency’s oil and gas regulations.

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has been given until May 16 because that’s when its board meets.