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Florida Administrative Law Research

Marin Dell & Trisha SimondsSpring 2010

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Overview

• Florida Administrative Code (FAC) and Florida Administrative Weekly (FAW) contain agency rules and regulations.

• The Division of Administrative Hearings (DOAH), appellate courts, and various agencies issue orders and opinions that are published in the Florida Administrative Law Reports (FALR).

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Authority for Florida Administrative Law

• Florida Statutes – enabling statutes

• Florida Statutes – Ch. 120, Administrative Procedure Act

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Florida Statutes

• Agencies are created by the legislature with an “enabling statute.”

• Enabling statutes set out the substantive law the agency is charged with applying and give the agency rulemaking authority in that area.

• Example: Florida State Fair Authority – Florida Statutes, Chapter 616.251

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Florida Administrative Code• Since 1961, Florida has required that most

administrative rules be published. (See Fla. Stat. § 120.55)

• Florida Administrative Weekly) was first published in 1962.

• The Florida Administrative Code (FAC) was first published in 1963.

• The FAC and FAW are published by the Florida Department of State, Bureau of the Administrative Code and Administrative Weekly.

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‘’• The FAC consists of 69 chapters.

• Chapters are frequently (but not always) subdivided by letters.

• Each rule within a chapter has a decimal number designation.

• Example: Within Ch. 6 – Dept. of Education, see Rule 6C2-3.045, College of Law Student Conduct Code.

• For each rule there is:• a rule number• a caption• the text of the rule • a note containing “Specific

Authority” (enabling statutes) and “History.”

• History notes are especially useful if you need to locate an older version of a rule.

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flrules.org contains:

• FAC (Word documents)

• FAW (PDF)

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WESTLAW

• The current code is at FL-ADC.

• The FAC, as of the end of 2004, is FL-ADC04 • 2005 version is FL-ADC05• 2006 version is FL-ADC06• 2007 version is FL-ADC07• 2008 version is FL-ADC08

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LEXIS

• The current Florida Administrative Code Annotated is at FLREGS. It is updated “regularly.”

Both Westlaw and Lexis include history and transfer information in their notes on repealed and transferred rules.

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Florida Administrative Weekly

• The Florida Administrative Code (FAC) is a snapshot of the administrative rules at a given moment in time.

• Florida Administrative Weekly (FAW) shows the rules changing over time.

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• The FAW contains the text of proposed rules.

• It also contains:• Notices that an agency is beginning the

rulemaking process• Notices of changes to proposed rules• Announcements of public meetings• Notices regarding state contracting and

purchasing, with contact information• Other miscellaneous items

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FAW Indexing

• FAW has an index (by agency name) to rules filed during the preceding week and a “List of Rules Affected.”

• FAW is published weekly, but the List of Rules Affected is only published in the first issue of each month. It covers rule changes proposed during the preceding 8 weeks.

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LEXIS and WESTLAW:

• Lexis (but not Westlaw) has a database containing the Florida Administrative Weekly (FAW). Filename: FLREGS

• Both Lexis and Westlaw include privately-created “regulation tracking” databases that cover Florida. • Lexis: FLRGTR • Westlaw: FL-REGTRK and FL-REGTXT

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For More Information:

• Florida Legal Research – Sources, Process, and Analysis (3rd Ed.)• by Barbara J. Busharis • Law Library KFF 75 .R69 2007

• Guide To Florida Legal Research• by Betsy L. Stupski• Law Library KFF 75 .B7 2008

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Thanks for coming!