2023 New York Laws › SAP - State Administrative Procedure Act › Article 1 - General Provisions › 102 - Definitions.

§ 102. Definitions. As used in this chapter,
* 1.   "Agency"  means  any  department,  board,  bureau,  commission,
division, office, council, committee or  officer  of  the  state,  or  a
public  benefit  corporation  or  public authority at least one of whose
members is appointed by the governor, authorized by law to make rules or
to make final  decisions  in  adjudicatory  proceedings  but  shall  not
include the governor, agencies in the legislative and judicial branches,
agencies  created  by interstate compact or international agreement, the
division of military and naval affairs to the extent  it  exercises  its
responsibility  for  military  and  naval affairs, the division of state
police, the identification and intelligence  unit  of  the  division  of
criminal  justice  services,  the state insurance fund, the unemployment
insurance appeal board, and except for purposes of  subdivision  one  of
section two hundred two-d and section two hundred two-f of this chapter,
the  workers'  compensation board and except for purposes of article two
of  this  chapter,  the  department   of   corrections   and   community
supervision.
* NB Effective until December 31, 2025
* 1.   "Agency"  means  any  department,  board,  bureau,  commission,
division, office, council, committee or  officer  of  the  state,  or  a
public  benefit  corporation  or  public authority at least one of whose
members is appointed by the governor, authorized by law to make rules or
to make final  decisions  in  adjudicatory  proceedings  but  shall  not
include the governor, agencies in the legislative and judicial branches,
agencies  created  by interstate compact or international agreement, the
division of military and naval affairs to the extent  it  exercises  its
responsibility  for  military  and  naval affairs, the division of state
police, the identification and intelligence  unit  of  the  division  of
criminal  justice  services,  the state insurance fund, the unemployment
insurance appeal board, and except for purposes of  subdivision  one  of
section  two  hundred  two-d  of this chapter, the workers' compensation
board and except for purposes  of  article  two  of  this  chapter,  the
department of corrections and community supervision.
* NB Effective December 31, 2025
2.  (a)  "Rule"  means (i) the whole or part of each agency statement,
regulation or code of general applicability that implements  or  applies
law,  or  prescribes  a  fee  charged  by  or  paid to any agency or the
procedure  or  practice  requirements  of  any  agency,  including   the
amendment,   suspension  or  repeal  thereof  and  (ii)  the  amendment,
suspension, repeal, approval, or prescription for the future  of  rates,
wages,  security  authorizations,  corporate  or financial structures or
reorganization thereof,  prices,  facilities,  appliances,  services  or
allowances  therefor or of valuations, costs or accounting, or practices
bearing on any  of  the  foregoing  whether  of  general  or  particular
applicability.
(b) Not included within paragraph (a) of this subdivision are:
(i)  rules  concerning  the internal management of the agency which do
not directly and significantly affect the rights  of  or  procedures  or
practices available to the public;
(ii)  rules relating to the use of public works, including streets and
highways, when the substance of such rules is indicated to the public by
means of signs or signals;
(iii) rulings issued under section two hundred  four  or  two  hundred
five of this chapter;
(iv) forms and instructions, interpretive statements and statements of
general  policy  which in themselves have no legal effect but are merely
explanatory;
(v) rules promulgated to  implement  agreements  pursuant  to  article
fourteen of the civil service law;
(vi)  rates  of interest prescribed by the superintendent of financial
services pursuant to section fourteen-a of the banking law;
(vii) rules relating to the  approval  or  disapproval  of  subscriber
rates  contained  in  an  application  to the public service commission,
after public hearing and approval by the applicable municipality  for  a
certificate of confirmation or an amendment to a franchise agreement;
(viii)  appraisal  models,  discount  rates, state equalization rates,
class ratios, special equalization rates and special equalization ratios
established pursuant to the real property tax law;
(ix)  rates  subject  to  prior  approval  by  the  superintendent  of
financial  services  or to section two thousand three hundred forty-four
of the insurance law;
(x) any  regulation  promulgating  an  interim  price  and  any  final
marketing  order  made  by  the  commissioner of agriculture and markets
pursuant to section two hundred fifty-eight-m  of  the  agriculture  and
markets law;
(xi) any fee which is:
(1) set by statute;
(2) less than one hundred dollars;
(3)  one  hundred  dollars  or  more and can reasonably be expected to
result in an annual aggregate collection of not more than  one  thousand
dollars;
(4)  established through negotiation, written agreement or competitive
bidding, including, but not  limited  to,  contracts,  leases,  charges,
permits for space use, prices, royalties or commissions; or
(5)  a charge or assessment levied by an agency upon another agency or
by an agency upon another unit of state government.
(xii) changes in a schedule filed by a telephone  corporation  subject
to the jurisdiction of the public service commission;
(xiii)  rules  relating  to  requests  for  authority  by  a telephone
corporation subject to the jurisdiction of the public service commission
under sections ninety-nine, one hundred  and  one  hundred  one  of  the
public  service  law and by a public utility subject to the jurisdiction
of the public service commission under section one hundred seven of  the
public service law;
(xiv)  any regulation comprised solely of one or more additions to the
list of nonprescription drugs reimbursable under  the  medicaid  program
pursuant  to  paragraph (a) of subdivision four of section three hundred
sixty-five-a of the social services law.
3. "Adjudicatory proceeding" means any activity which is  not  a  rule
making  proceeding  or an employee disciplinary action before an agency,
except  an  administrative  tribunal  created  by  statute  to  hear  or
determine  allegations of traffic infractions which may also be heard in
a court of appropriate jurisdiction, in which  a  determination  of  the
legal  rights, duties or privileges of named parties thereto is required
by law to be made only on a  record  and  after  an  opportunity  for  a
hearing.
4.  "License"  includes  the  whole  or  part  of  any  agency permit,
certificate,  approval,  registration,  charter,  or  similar  form   of
permission required by law.
5.  "Licensing"  includes  any  agency  activity respecting the grant,
denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal,  recall,
cancellation or amendment of a license.
6.   "Person"   means   any   individual,   partnership,  corporation,
association, or public or private organization of  any  character  other

than  an  agency  engaged  in  the  particular  rule making, declaratory
ruling, or adjudication.
7.  "Party" means any person or agency named or admitted as a party or
properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party; but
nothing herein shall be construed to prevent an  agency  from  admitting
any person or agency as a party for limited purposes.
8.  "Small  business"  means  any  business  which is resident in this
state, independently owned and operated, and employs one hundred or less
individuals.
9. "Substantial revision" means any addition, deletion or other change
in the text of a rule proposed for adoption, which materially alters its
purpose, meaning or effect, but  shall  not  include  any  change  which
merely  defines or clarifies such text and does not materially alter its
purpose, meaning or effect. To  determine  if  the  revised  text  of  a
proposed rule contains a substantial revision, the revised text shall be
compared  to  the  text  of the rule for which a notice of proposed rule
making was published in the state  register;  provided,  however,  if  a
notice  of  revised  rule  making  was previously published in the state
register, the revised text shall be compared to  the  revised  text  for
which the most recent notice of revised rule making was published.
10.  "Rural  area"  means  those  portions  of the state so defined by
subdivision seven of section four hundred eighty-one  of  the  executive
law.
11.  "Consensus  rule" means a rule proposed by an agency for adoption
on an expedited basis pursuant to the  expectation  that  no  person  is
likely  to  object  to  its  adoption  because  it  merely  (a)  repeals
regulatory provisions which are no longer applicable to any person,  (b)
implements or conforms to non-discretionary statutory provisions, or (c)
makes technical changes or is otherwise non-controversial.
13.  "Data"  means written information or material, including, but not
limited to, statistics or measurements used as the basis for  reasoning,
calculations or conclusions in a study.
14.  "Guidance  document"  means  any guideline, memorandum or similar
document prepared by an agency  that  provides  general  information  or
guidance to assist regulated parties in complying with any statute, rule
or other legal requirement, but shall not include documents that concern
only the internal management of the agency or declaratory rulings issued
pursuant to section two hundred four of this chapter.