Committee advances Department of Education rule review on restraint and seclusion, despite title error

The committee voted to recommend that LD2172, a resolve to authorize legislative review of major substantive rulemaking by the Department of Education on restraint and seclusion, ought to pass.

Maura, the committee’s bill analyst, said the rule is intended to align agency rule with statutory changes enacted last session that clarified definitions and added a sunset date for a definition of serious physical injury. She told the committee that, although the rule aligns with statute, the bill title and body erroneously mention the State Board of Education; the rules in question are Department of Education rules and staff said the paperwork filed with the Secretary of State will contain the correct title.

Staff reminded members that a resolve cannot change statute and that if the committee chose to 'not authorize' the rule it would preserve a statute-rule conflict (with statute prevailing). Members discussed whether to amend the title to remove the State Board reference as a matter of committee preference. The committee voted to approve the resolve with a recorded tally reported as 10–1; a minority report was noted.

The committee’s recommendation authorizes the Department of Education’s paperwork to move forward with the Secretary of State to finalize the rule submission and, upon approval, the rule will be adopted as a major substantive rule under the emergency preamble included in the rule submission.