Steps to Updating Washington Administrative Code Regulations in Print
Listed below are the steps on how to update a Washington administrative regulation in print. Updating a regulation in the Washington Administrative Code (WAC) is necessary to determine if it has been amended, repealed, or superseded. For this example, we will update WAC 4-30-024.
Examine the regulation in the most current edition of the WAC. Note the date on the title page of the volume. The 2018 WAC contains all the permanent rules adopted as of January 1, 2018. Beginning in 2012, the WAC has been published annually and no longer has an annual supplement.
This is WAC 4-30-024 as found in the 2018 WAC. It is current up to January 1, 2018.
The above example, WAC 4-30-024, deals with the availability of agency public records. At the end of every regulation, there is a statutory authority note which provides the source, effective date, and filing date each time the regulation has been supplemented or revised. It provides the statutory authority and the reference to the Washington State Register where the final regulation was published.
The statutory authority (where the Washington Legislature delegated authority to the Washington executive branch agency or commission to promulgate rules and regulations) is found in each section of the Washington Administrative Code. For this regulation and its latest amendments in 2010, the statutory authority is found in RCW 18.04.055 and RCW 42.56.070. This is like the authority note found in the Code of Federal Regulations. The 2010 amendments to WAC 4-30-024 are found in Issue 10-24 of the Washington State Register in 10-24-009 amended and recodified as § 4-30-024 and it was filed on November 18, 2010, with an effective date of December 19, 2010.
WAC 4-30-024 was originally promulgated in 1993. For the 1993 regulations, the statutory authority is found in RCW 42.17. The 1993 regulations that became WAC 4-25-520 are found in Issue 93-14 of the Washington State Register in 93-14-050 § 4-25-520 and it was filed on June 29, 1993, with an effective date of June 30, 1993. It was subsequently amended in 1998, 2001, 2002, and 2008.
The main WAC was published in 2018 and is current through January 1, 2018. The Washington State Register is the official administrative register for the state of Washington. It is published twice a month. It contains proposed, emergency, and permanently adopted administrative rules and regulations. It also contains tables and finding aids. The Washington State Register updates the WAC. This is similar to how the Federal Register updates the Code of Federal Regulations.
The next step in updating is to consult Issue 18-06 of the Washington State Register from March 21, 2018. This is the latest Washington State Register that the Chastek Library has received and we received it on March 26, 2018. It is current through filings no later than March 7, 2018, so it covers January 1, 2018 through March 7, 2018. The cumulative table needs to be checked to see if there have been any changes to WAC 4-30-024.
The table in Issue 18-06 of the Washington State Register includes changes filed and affecting the WAC as of March 7, 2018. The table indicates that one thing happened to WAC 4-30-024:
This is Issue 18-04 of the Washington State Register and these are the permanent regulations amending WAC 4-30-024 at WSR 18-04-071.
This is from Issue 18-04 of the Washington State Register. It contains the permanent amendment to WAC 4-30-024 as found in the permanent regulations section at 18-04-071 of the Washington State Register.
In summary, we looked at:
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