Terms Used In Vermont Statutes Title 3 Sec. 833

  • Agency: means a State board, commission, department, agency, or other entity or officer of State government, other than the Legislature, the courts, the Commander in Chief, and the Military Department, authorized by law to make rules or to determine contested cases. See
  • Guidance document: means a written record that has not been adopted in accordance with sections 836-844 of this title and that is issued by an agency to assist the public by providing an agency's current approach to or interpretation of law or describing how and when an agency will exercise discretionary functions. See
  • Procedure: means a practice that has been adopted in writing, either at the election of the agency or as the result of a request under subsection 831(b) of this title. See
  • Rule: means each agency statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy and that has been adopted in the manner provided by sections 836-844 of this title. See
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States may apply to the District of Columbia and any territory and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See

§ 833. Style of rules

(a) Rules and procedures shall be written in a clear and coherent manner using words with common and everyday meanings, consistent with the text of the rule or procedure.

(b)(1) When an agency proposes to amend an existing rule, it shall replace terms identified as potentially disrespectful by the study produced in accordance with 2012 Acts and Resolves No. 24, Sec. 1 with respectful language recommended therein or used in the Vermont Statutes Annotated, where appropriate.

(2) All new rules adopted by agencies shall use, to the fullest extent possible, respectful language consistent with the Vermont Statutes Annotated and the respectful language study produced in accordance with 2012 Acts and Resolves No. 24, Sec. 1, where appropriate.

(c) The Secretary of State may issue a guidance document suggesting how agencies may draft rules and procedures in accordance with this section. The guidance document may include suggestions on style, numbering, and drafting the content of the filings required under this subchapter. (Added 1981, No. 82, § 6; amended 2013, No. 96 (Adj. Sess.), § 7; 2017, No. 156 (Adj. Sess.), § 2.)