Opinion ID: 2546975
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Procedural validity of Division regulations

Text: Finally, the Bartleys ask this court to hold that the Division's policies and practices with regard to AS 14.25.060 are invalid because they violate statutory provisions governing the implementation of agency regulations, AS 14.25.022 and AS 44.62.030. The Administrative Procedure Act provision that the Bartleys claim has been violated, AS 44.62.030, facially applies to the regulations promulgated by any state agency. But AS 14.25.022 expressly exempts regulations adopted by the Alaska Teachers' Retirement Board from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Because regulations adopted by the Teachers' Retirement Board are exempted by statute from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, the Bartleys claim that the regulations related to AS 14.25.060 are void for violation of AS 44.62.030 must fail. Alaska Statute 14.25.022 sets forth an alternative set of procedural requirements for regulations promulgated by the Teachers' Retirement Board, including publishing proposed regulations in the Alaska Administrative Register and Code. See AS 14.25.022(b). The Bartleys contend that the Division's practices for interpreting AS 14.25.060 violate AS 14.25.022(b) because they were not properly published. But even assuming that agency regulations related to AS 14.25.060 were not properly published, the Bartleys' benefits were properly calculated in accordance with the underlying statutes. Therefore, this court need not reach the validity of the interpretative regulations.