Virginia Administrative Code › Title 9 - ENVIRONMENT › Agency 15 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY › Chapter 11 - PUBLIC PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES › Part I - Purpose and Definitions › Section 9VAC15-11-20 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms when used in this chapter
					 shall have the following meanings unless the context clearly indicates
					 otherwise:
"Administrative Process Act" means Chapter 40 (§
					 2.2-4000 et seq.) of Title 2.2 of the Code of Virginia.
"Agency" means the Department of Environmental Quality,
					 which is the unit of state government empowered by the agency's basic law to
					 make regulations or decide cases. Actions specified in this chapter may be
					 fulfilled by state employees as delegated by the agency.
"Basic law" means provisions in the Code of Virginia that
					 delineate the basic authority and responsibilities of an agency.
"Commonwealth Calendar" means the electronic calendar for
					 official government meetings open to the public as required by § 2.2-3707C
					 of the Freedom of Information Act.
''Negotiated rulemaking panel'' or ''NRP'' means an ad hoc
					 advisory panel of interested parties established by an agency to consider
					 issues that are controversial with the assistance of a facilitator or mediator,
					 for the purpose of reaching a consensus in the development of a proposed
					 regulatory action.
"Notification list" means a list used to notify persons
					 pursuant to this chapter. Such a list may include an electronic list maintained
					 through the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall or other list maintained by the
					 agency.
"Open meeting" means any scheduled gathering of a unit of
					 state government empowered by an agency's basic law to make regulations or
					 decide cases, which is related to promulgating, amending or repealing a
					 regulation.
"Person" means any individual, corporation, partnership,
					 association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture,
					 government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and
					 any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality
					 thereof.
"Public hearing" means a scheduled time at which members or
					 staff of the agency will meet for the purpose of receiving public comment on a
					 regulatory action.
"Regulation" means any statement of general application
					 having the force of law, affecting the rights or conduct of any person, adopted
					 by the agency in accordance with the authority conferred on it by applicable
					 laws.
"Regulatory action" means the promulgation, amendment, or
					 repeal of a regulation by the agency.
"Regulatory advisory panel" or "RAP" means a standing or ad
					 hoc advisory panel of interested parties established by the agency for the
					 purpose of assisting in regulatory actions.
"Town Hall" means the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall, the
					 website operated by the Virginia Department of Planning and Budget at
www.townhall.virginia.gov
, which
					 has online public comment forums and displays information about regulatory
					 meetings and regulatory actions under consideration in Virginia and sends this
					 information to registered public users.
"Virginia Register" means the Virginia Register of
					 Regulations, the publication that provides official legal notice of new,
					 amended and repealed regulations of state agencies, which is published under
					 the provisions of Article 6 (§ 2.2-4031 et seq.) of the Administrative
					 Process Act.
Statutory Authority
§§ 2.2-4007.02, 58.1-3661, and 62.1-195.1 of
						the Code of Virginia.