(a) The department may promulgate those rules and regulations, not inconsistent with law, necessary for the enforcement of this chapter.
(b) (1) Prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of any regulation, the supervisor shall give at least 35 days' notice of its intended action by filing notice of intended action with the Legislative Reference Service for publication in the Alabama Administrative Monthly. The date of publication in the Alabama Administrative Monthly shall constitute the date of notice. The notice shall include a statement of either the terms or substance of the intended action or a description of the subject and issues involved, shall specify a notice period ending not less than 35 days or more than 90 days from the date of the notice, during which period interested persons may present their views thereon, and shall specify the place where, and the manner in which, interested persons may present their views thereon.
(2) All interested persons shall have a reasonable opportunity to submit data, views, or arguments, orally or in writing. The supervisor shall consider all written and oral submissions respecting the proposed regulation. Upon adoption of a regulation, the supervisor, if conflicting views are submitted on the proposed regulation and if requested in writing to do so by an interested person prior to adoption, shall issue a concise statement of the principal reasons for and against its adoption, incorporating therein its reasons for overruling any considerations urged against its adoption.
(3) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, if the supervisor finds that an immediate danger to the public health, safety, or welfare requires adoption of a regulation upon fewer than 35 days' notice or that action is required by or to comply with a federal statute or regulation which requires adoption of a regulation upon fewer than 35 days' notice and states in writing its reasons for that finding, it may proceed without prior notice or hearing or upon any abbreviated notice and hearing that it finds practicable, to adopt an emergency regulation. The regulation shall become effective immediately, unless otherwise stated therein. The regulation may be effective for a period of not longer than 120 days unless within such time the supervisor complies with the procedures set forth in subdivision (1) and subdivision (2). The adoption of the same or a substantially similar regulation following the procedures set forth in subdivision (1) and subdivision (2) at any time is not limited by the adoption of a regulation following the emergency regulation procedure set forth in this subdivision.
(4) Any regulation proposed by the department prior to May 31, 2004, that, in the majority judgment of the Speaker of the House, the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor, unreasonably limits the ability of new licenses, shall not be effective until May 31, 2004.
(5) A person who has exhausted all administrative remedies available within the department, other than rehearing, and who is aggrieved by a final decision of the supervisor with respect to a regulation, is entitled to judicial review under this chapter. All proceedings for review shall be instituted by filing of notice of appeal or review and a cost bond with the supervisor to cover the reasonable costs of preparing the transcript of the proceeding under review, unless waived by the supervisor or the court on a showing of substantial hardship. The notice of appeal and cost bond must be filed within 42 days after the date the supervisor issued its final regulation. The appeal shall be filed in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County. The regulation will be in effect pending the outcome of any appeal unless the supervisor stays the effective date of the regulation.
(c) Interpretations, opinions, and approvals shall protect, to the extent provided in subsection (c), as applicable, both the licensee at whose request they were issued and any other licensee in a materially like circumstance.
Last modified: May 3, 2021