Issue 3 - the Montana Secretary of State Website

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RESPONSE: The application fee referenced in ARM 17.50.513(2) is
provided in ARM 17.50.410, and was adopted under the authority of 75-10-115,
MCA. The revisions in (2) do not adopt a new fee, but require a new application to
be submitted with the appropriate application fee as provided in ARM 17.50.410.
See Response to Comment No. 19.
COMMENT NO. 18: A commentor stated that the department was being
arbitrary in ARM 17.50.513(2) by requiring a license applicant to pay a new
application fee if it failed to respond to a department request for more information to
complete an application within 90 days, and asked whether it is possible to gather
requested information within that timeframe. For example, archaeological surveys
are nearly impossible to conduct in the wintertime due to snow cover, and, during a
snowy winter, it might not be possible to complete a field survey requested in
November, within 90 days. The department may make demands that are
impossible for an applicant to complete without large amounts of additional funding
or without benefit of another budget cycle. The sentence requiring the 90-day
deadline and additional fee should be removed from the proposed rule.
RESPONSE: The 90-day deadline in ARM 17.50.513(2) was not proposed to
be revised. However, the department believes the 90-day time limit for receiving
additional requested information is more than enough time to compile and submit
the requested information.
COMMENT NO. 19: A commentor questioned the justification for the
department requiring a new application fee if the applicant fails to provide additional
information within 90 days after being requested to do so.
RESPONSE: Existing ARM 17.50.513(1) requires an applicant, that has not
responded to a department notice that a license application is incomplete, to submit
a new application. Existing ARM 17.50.410(1)(a) requires an application fee with a
license application, and provides that the department shall send the applicant an
invoice for the fee and begin processing the application upon receipt of that fee.
Therefore, the requirement of a new application fee, when a new application is
submitted, is not new. The department believes that submittal of a new application
fee for a new application, when requested additional information is not received
within 90 days after the applicant has been notified, is necessary to cover the
department's costs for processing the application. It can take significant time for the
department's staff to re-review the application, become familiar with it, and prepare
to analyze it after 90 days have passed. This is time that cannot be used on other
projects and constitutes a drain on the department's resources.
NEW RULE I
COMMENT NO: 20: A commentor questioned use of the word "that" in the
phrase "a new Class II landfill unit, existing Class II landfill unit, or lateral expansion
of that unit" in New Rule I(1) and (2), and in similar phrases, such as "a new or
existing Class II or Class IV landfill unit, or a lateral expansion of that unit," in New
Rule V(1) and (2) and in other rules. The commentor stated that use of "that" was
3-2/11/10 Montana Administrative Register