Opinion ID: 2680029
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Maine Administrative Procedure Act

Text: [¶9] Roderick contends that “DOC’s good time policy is void and unenforceable because it was not adopted in accordance with the [APA].” An agency must comply with the APA before it adopts a rule; otherwise the rule has 3 At oral argument, the State reported that the policy has been changed to allow for completion of community-based programs in the final eighteen months of an inmate’s sentence. The change does not affect our analysis. 6 no legal effect. Mitchell v. Me. Harness Racing Comm’n, 662 A.2d 924, 926 (Me. 1995); 5 M.R.S. § 8057(1). An agency is, however, allowed to “provide guidance for its employees and the public without adopting the guiding materials as rules, as long as those materials are not intended to have, and are not given, the force and effect of law.” Downeast Energy Corp. v. Fund Ins. Review Bd., 2000 ME 151, ¶ 23, 756 A.2d 948. Furthermore, an agency is “not required to promulgate rules defining every statutory term that might be called into question.” Cobb v. Bd. of Counseling Prof’ls Licensure, 2006 ME 48, ¶ 24, 896 A.2d 271. [¶10] The APA defines a “rule” as the whole or any part of every regulation, standard, code, statement of policy, or other agency guideline or statement of general applicability . . . that is or is intended to be judicially enforceable and implements, interprets or makes specific the law administered by the agency, or describes the procedures or practices of the agency. .... A rule is not judicially enforceable unless it is adopted in a manner consistent with [the APA]. 5 M.R.S. § 8002(9), (9)(A). A “rule” does not include: [p]olicies or memoranda concerning only the internal management of an agency or the State Government and not judicially enforceable; [or] .... [a]ny form, instruction or explanatory statement of policy that in itself is not judicially enforceable, and that is intended solely as advice to assist persons in determining, exercising or complying with their legal 7 rights, duties or privileges. Id. § 8002(9)(B). [¶11] The term “judicially enforceable” is not defined in the APA. Relying on the plain meaning of the term, however, see Fuhrmann v. Staples the Office Superstore E., Inc., 2012 ME 135, ¶ 23, 58 A.3d 1083 (“We interpret the language of a statute de novo by first examining its plain meaning.”), we conclude that the DOC policy is not intended to be judicially enforceable because the Department would never have occasion to ask a court to order anyone to comply with it.4 Rather, the policy is an “instruction or explanatory statement of policy that in itself is not judicially enforceable, and that is intended solely as advice to assist [DOC staff] in determining, exercising or complying with their legal . . . dut[y]” to administer the good time provision created by section 1253(10)(B). 5 M.R.S. § 8002(9)(B). Because the policy is not, and is not intended to be, judicially enforceable, it does not require promulgation as a rule. See Downeast Energy Corp., 2000 ME 151, ¶ 23, 756 A.2d 948. 4 Roderick’s argument presupposes that DOC sought to have the Superior Court judicially enforce the policy in his case; however, the court’s judgment was limited to a finding that “DOC’s implementation of the 2-day monthly deduction for community-based programs, as set out in [Title 17-A] section 1253(10)(B), is consistent with the terms of that statute.” The court’s role was to determine whether the policy is lawful, not to enforce it. 8