ACR (Administrative Codes & Registers) Section of NASS

The final night of the 2024 ACR/NASS Summer Conference was a resounding success, featuring an exuberant celebration of dance, music, and Puerto Rican culture. Heartfelt gratitude to the organizers for such a memorable experience!

Thanks to the folks from NARA for the educational session about the Electoral College!

National Archives National Archives and Records Administration

Congratulations to the Oklahoma Office of Administrative Rules on winning the 2024 Robert J. Colborn Jr. Innovative Award! The innovative improvements to bring Oklahoma rules into the digital world has impressed all of us!! Great Job 👏👏👏

Look out for the press release with all of the project details ~ coming soon 🥳

For dinner “on your own,” tonight you’ll be able to find some ACR members in Old San Juan.

Day 1 of the 2024 ACR Summer Conference culminated in a festive evening event!

Thank you to Christopher Burnett, Director, TX Business & Public Filings, for his presentation on rule writing best practices.

Exciting discussions at the ACR Business Meeting!

📢One week away from the kick off of the NASS/ACR 2024 Summer Conference 📢

With a ton of interesting topics on the year's conference agenda, we can't tell if folks are most excited for the work-shopping spaces or the festive networking events!

What are you most excited about??

NASS 2024 Summer Conference | NASS When: Jul 9 - Jul 12 Where: San Juan, PR Facility: Sheraton Puerto Rico Registration Hotel Transportation Exhibitors Agenda Sponsors Family Top Registration: Registration is closed! There is no on-site registration for this event. The cost to attend is $500 early/ $600 late (after June 10, 2024) fo...

The US Supreme Court with a 6-3 decision, has overturned a decades-old legal doctrine that empowered federal regulators to interpret unclear laws, issuing a ruling that will impact environmental, consumer and financial auditing agencies.

www.supremecourt.gov

🎉 Join us at the hottest event of the summer – our upcoming ACR Summer Conference hosted in beautiful Puerto Rico! ☀️🌴 Your presence and participation are key to making this event unforgettable! Let's dive into the details of rulemaking and publishing code together and set the stage for an amazing experience. See you there!

NASS 2024 Summer Conference | NASS When: Jul 9 - Jul 12 Where: San Juan, PR Facility: Sheraton Puerto Rico Registration Hotel Transportation Exhibitors Agenda Sponsors Family Top Registration: Register Now!The cost to attend is $500 early/ $600 late (after June 10, 2024) for Secretaries of State, State Government Staff, ACR Members,....

The 2024 Summer Conference registration link is available! Be sure to take advantage of the Early-Bird special price 😎

NASS 2024 Summer Conference | NASS When: Jul 9 - Jul 12 Where: San Juan, PR Facility: Sheraton Puerto Rico Registration Hotel Transportation Exhibitors Agenda Sponsors Family Top Registration: Register Now!The cost to attend is $500 early/ $600 late (after June 10, 2024) for Secretaries of State, State Government Staff, ACR Members,....

As a fan, I loved finding this photo in the collection. Who let these guys into the White House?? - check out the full record description in our catalog - https://catalog.archives.gov/id/301978208

The deadline to submit your nomination for the 2024 Robert J. Colborn Award is approaching fast! Don't miss your opportunity to recognize a program!

Deadline: May 10, 2024
Visit the ACR Website for more details:

ACR Colborn Award – Administrative Codes & Registers Section of NASS ACR Colborn Award We annually recognize a program that demonstrates creativity and innovation in providing public access to, or managing, administrative rules. The Awards Committee is officially accepting nominations for the 2024 Robert J. Colborn Award. Nominations can be from a government entity a...

Flashback Friday~
Heyyy Batter Batter 🧢⚾️🩵
This spring weather is bringing back baseball memories from last year's summer conference. Who remembers these pics???

Administrative Rules are in the headlines (once again) - Did you see it??

New Biden rule aims to protect US federal employees if Trump is elected Regulations will bar career civil servants from being reclassified as political appointees – who are more easily dismissed

The ACR (Administrative Codes & Registers) Section of NASS Awards Committee is officially accepting nominations for the 2024 Robert J. Colborn Award! The Colborn Award annually recognizes a program that demonstrates creativity and innovation in providing public access to, or managing, administrative rules. Amazing things are happening to improve processes associated with administrative rulemakings and we are excited to recognize one such program.

Nominations can be from a government entity at the state, federal, territorial, or protectorate level.

The deadline for submissions is May 10, 2024.

ACR Colborn Award – Administrative Codes & Registers Section of NASS ACR Colborn Award We annually recognize a program that demonstrates creativity and innovation in providing public access to, or managing, administrative rules. The Awards Committee is officially accepting nominations for the 2024 Robert J. Colborn Award. Nominations can be from a government entity a...

Are You Retiring???

The ACR Awards Committee is seeking submissions for colleagues that have retired or will be retiring by July 1st of 2024. Let us know who from your State will be celebrating their retirements this year so we can prepare the Retirement Resolutions for those departing ACR members 🏆

ACR Retirements: July 1, 2023 - July 1, 2024 Please complete as many questions as possible so ACR can publish a complete Retirement Resolution for retired members. If you would like a sample of how the information will be used, you can view previous retirement resolutions here. If you have questions, contact Sunnie Burningham at sburningham@ut...

On February 15, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) that, if approved, liability would attach to entities have “knowledge or reason to know that those goods or services will be used to” commit impersonation fraud.

FTC Targets AI and Potentially More in Impersonation-Fraud Rulemaking | JD Supra On February 15, 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (SNPRM) that proposes to hold liable...

Start your travel arrangements because we are going to Puerto Rico for the 2024 National Association of Secretaries of State / ACR (Administrative Codes & Registers) Summer Conference! https://www.nass.org/events/nass-2024-summer-conference

Meet the ACR President - Jill S. Ledbetter

President Ledbetter has served in multiple roles including the Southern Representative, ACR Vice President and was nominated and confirmed unanimously this last summer as the ACR President.

Jill is within the Texas Secretary of State’s Office as Editor-in-Chief of the Texas Register and Texas Administrative Code. She supervises a team of nine, and together they produce the weekly Texas Register publication as well as all associated updates to the Texas Administrative Code. Their weekly publication is available in print as well as in various formats online. Additionally, two of the Texas team are tasked with other duties for the Secretary of State’s Office. In addition to ensuring the timely production of our weekly issue, President Ledbetter spend a large amount of time interacting with stakeholders ranging from members of the general public looking for information to agency rule writers, executive directors, and general counsels. Also, she is the clerk for the Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council, a multi-agency council tasked with studying records management across Texas state agencies and reporting those findings to the Governor and Legislature.

So Why Do You Do It, Madam President??

No two days are ever the same, and she embraces the variety each day brings. The items included in the publication affect Texas citizens every day, and it’s important that the public has consistent and timely access to this information. She is honored to help ensure the public has this access and loves helping people, and the best part of my day is being able to ease someone else’s workload or answer a question for them. She has gained great satisfaction from feeling like she makes a difference for Texas’s customers. Jill has been with the Texas SOS for more than 33 years, all with the Texas Register in a variety of roles. She feels fortunate to be able to forge collaborative, supportive relationships throughout our state government during her tenure!

Jill says she is blessed to be married to her best friend, John. She loves sports and was a competitive fencer during and after college. Prior to entering state government service, she was a sports reporter and broadcaster. She has a love-hate relationship with the Minnesota Vikings every season, as she was born in Minneapolis. Jill enjoys NHRA drag racing and UFC events too. She can often be found birdwatching (either in her own backyard or on the beautiful Texas Gulf Coast), and has a large herd of deer that need to pay rent as they live in her yard!

Thank you, Madam President, for all you do to support Texas’s constituents and for the leadership you provide ACR! We are better because of you ☺️

Did you see this?? Curious to hear what you see the impact in your States will be..

"The case has implications far beyond the fishing industry and has attracted support from conservative legal foundations, the Gun Owners of America and a trade group for electronic cigarette-makers, among others."

Case brought to Supreme Court by herring fishermen may gut federal rulemaking power Several of the court's conservative justices expressed deep skepticism of the current framework. But all three left-leaning justices offered support for keeping the system in place.

Today' leaders draw strength and love from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's words as we move forward in 2024 🥰🖤💯

Get to Know Your ACR Leadership!

Meet the ACR Vice President - Trinette Middlebrook

Trinette is a Rules Specialist for Idaho Department of Health & Welfare – where she is involve with following and reviewing all legislation and identifying bills that may affect the Department and its business. After the moratorium on rulemaking last year in Idaho, their Administrative Rules Unit (ARU – which is comprised of fabulous Frank Powell and Trinette), hits the ground running starting their yearlong process of rulemaking.

Vice President Middlebrook believes that every day is a new day with a new situation or problem to solve. She really enjoys her work because they are able to have collaborative relationships with many different programs and entities in Idaho government, which makes finding a solution possible.

She has an amazing husband, Rob, and a canine coworker, Waffles, who ensures she has her daily walk for exercise. She has a passion for art and a bachelors in that study. Trinette also enjoys cooking for and eating with friends and family, and has eclectic musical tastes extending from classical, metal, to seventies disco to folk...but no jazz please~

Thank you Trinette, for all you do to support Idaho's citizens and for the leadership you provide to the ACR network!

Great job Robin!

Retired Union County Clerk Robin Church earns prestigious honor Church is honored after serving as Union County Clerk for 16 years. Church retired a year ago.

🎵 Who remembers the 'Voyages of ACR' song? 🎶 Extra credit if you can quote any lyrics!?!?!

The Administrative Codes and Registers (ACR) Section of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) awarded the Utah Office of Administrative Rules the 2023 Robert J. Colborn, Jr. Innovation Award at the association’s annual conference for their work developing a prefiling system for the state’s Administrative Codes and Registers.

Utah Executive Order 2021-12 required the Utah Office of Administrative Rules (hereafter referred to as “Office”) to review rules for adherence to the Rulewriting Manual of Utah.

The challenge was how to do this without increasing turnaround times or introducing delays into the rulemaking process. To address this, the Office introduced a new program that would occur before a rule draft is formally filed.

The prefiling review’s portion in the process provides for a more consistent reading experience throughout the entirety of the administrative code, standardizing both style and language. Prefilings continue to provide learning opportunities for the Office and present numerous benefits to the Office, other rulemaking agencies, and the public.

HipHipHooray to our colleagues in Utah and the amazing work you all are doing!!

And that's a wrap 👏👏 Thanks to all the ACR members that were able to join in Washington DC for the 2023 Summer Conference!!