(a) Any person may petition an agency, or an agency may on its own motion initiate a proceeding, for a declaratory ruling as to the validity of any regulation, or the applicability to specified circumstances of a provision of the general statutes, a regulation, or a final decision on a matter within the jurisdiction of the agency.

Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 4-176

  • Agency: means each state board, commission, department or officer authorized by law to make regulations or to determine contested cases, but does not include either house or any committee of the General Assembly, the courts, the Council on Probate Judicial Conduct, the Governor, Lieutenant Governor or Attorney General, or town or regional boards of education, or automobile dispute settlement panels established pursuant to §. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Contested case: means a proceeding, including but not restricted to rate-making, price fixing and licensing, in which the legal rights, duties or privileges of a party are required by state statute or regulation to be determined by an agency after an opportunity for hearing or in which a hearing is in fact held, but does not include proceedings on a petition for a declaratory ruling under §. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Final decision: means (A) the agency determination in a contested case, (B) a declaratory ruling issued by an agency pursuant to §. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Intervenor: means a person, other than a party, granted status as an intervenor by an agency in accordance with the provisions of subsection (d) of §. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Party: means each person (A) whose legal rights, duties or privileges are required by statute to be determined by an agency proceeding and who is named or admitted as a party, (B) who is required by law to be a party in an agency proceeding, or (C) who is granted status as a party under subsection (a) of §. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Person: means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited liability company, association, governmental subdivision, agency or public or private organization of any character, but does not include the agency conducting the proceeding. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Regulation: means each agency statement of general applicability, without regard to its designation, that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy, or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of any agency. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166
  • Regulation-making: means the process for formulation and adoption of a regulation. See Connecticut General Statutes 4-166

(b) Each agency shall adopt regulations, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, that provide for (1) the form and content of petitions for declaratory rulings, (2) the filing procedure for such petitions and (3) the procedural rights of persons with respect to the petitions.

(c) Within thirty days after receipt of a petition for a declaratory ruling, an agency shall give notice of the petition to all persons to whom notice is required by any provision of law and to all persons who have requested notice of declaratory ruling petitions on the subject matter of the petition.

(d) If the agency finds that a timely petition to become a party or to intervene has been filed according to the regulations adopted under subsection (b) of this section, the agency: (1) May grant a person status as a party if the agency finds that the petition states facts demonstrating that the petitioner’s legal rights, duties or privileges shall be specifically affected by the agency proceeding; and (2) may grant a person status as an intervenor if the agency finds that the petition states facts demonstrating that the petitioner’s participation is in the interests of justice and will not impair the orderly conduct of the proceedings. The agency may define an intervenor’s participation in the manner set forth in subsection (d) of § 4-177a.

(e) Within sixty days after receipt of a petition for a declaratory ruling, an agency in writing shall: (1) Issue a ruling declaring the validity of a regulation or the applicability of the provision of the general statutes, the regulation, or the final decision in question to the specified circumstances, (2) order the matter set for specified proceedings, (3) agree to issue a declaratory ruling by a specified date, (4) decide not to issue a declaratory ruling and initiate regulation-making proceedings, under § 4-168, on the subject, or (5) decide not to issue a declaratory ruling, stating the reasons for its action.

(f) A copy of all rulings issued and any actions taken under subsection (e) of this section shall be promptly delivered to the petitioner and other parties personally or by United States mail, certified or registered, postage prepaid, return receipt requested.

(g) If the agency conducts a hearing in a proceeding for a declaratory ruling, the provisions of subsection (b) of § 4-177c, § 4-178 and § 4-179 shall apply to the hearing.

(h) A declaratory ruling shall be effective when personally delivered or mailed or on such later date specified by the agency in the ruling, shall have the same status and binding effect as an order issued in a contested case and shall be a final decision for purposes of appeal in accordance with the provisions of § 4-183. A declaratory ruling shall contain the names of all parties to the proceeding, the particular facts on which it is based and the reasons for its conclusion.

(i) If an agency does not issue a declaratory ruling within one hundred eighty days after the filing of a petition therefor, or within such longer period as may be agreed by the parties, the agency shall be deemed to have decided not to issue such ruling.

(j) The agency shall keep a record of the proceeding as provided in § 4-177.

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