Question Submitted by: The Honorable Mark McBride, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 53

2023 OK AG 3
CourtOklahoma Attorney General Reports
DecidedApril 4, 2023
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2023 OK AG 3 (Question Submitted by: The Honorable Mark McBride, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 53) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oklahoma Attorney General Reports primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Mark McBride, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 53, 2023 OK AG 3 (Okla. Super. Ct. 2023).

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OSCN Found Document:Question Submitted by: The Honorable Mark McBride, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 53
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Question Submitted by: The Honorable Mark McBride, Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 53
2023 OK AG 3
Decided: 04/04/2023
Oklahoma Attorney General Opinions


Cite as: 2023 OK AG 3, __ __

¶0 This office has received your request for an official Attorney General Opinion in which you ask, in effect, the following questions:
1. Does power vested in the State Board of Education ("Board") to promulgate administrative rules absent specific statutory authorization violate article 5, section 1 of the Oklahoma Constitution which vests the legislative power of the State in the Legislature?
2. Is the language in section 3-104 of title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes, authorizing the Board to adopt policies and make rules for the operation of public schools in the State, an unconstitutional overly broad delegation of legislative power to the executive branch of government?

¶1 This office initially responded to your request on March 20, 2023, through a letter from this office's General Counsel. Because you have followed-up the March 20 letter with a request for a formal opinion and there is no longer pending legislation on the topics in the questions presented, this formal opinion is provided pursuant to the duty in 74 O.S.2021, § 18b(A)(5).

I.

BACKGROUND

¶2 Article I, section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution obligates the Legislature to provide for the establishment and maintenance of a system of free public schools. Further, the Constitution establishes the Board and provides that its powers and duties shall be prescribed by law. OKLA. CONST. art. XIII, § 5. In 1949, the Legislature enacted the Oklahoma School Code (the "Code") to fulfill its constitutional obligation to establish and maintain the public schools and to set forth the powers and duties of the Board. Oklahoma Farm Bureau v. State Bd. of Educ., 1968 OK 98, ¶ 3, 444 P.2d 182, 184; 70 O.S.2021, § 1-102. The Code sets forth the Board's general powers and authority at section 3-104 of title 70 of the Oklahoma Statutes. Relevant to this Opinion, the State Board is authorized in section 3-104 to:

1. Adopt policies and make rules for the operation of the public school system of the state;
7. Promulgate rules governing the classification, inspection, supervision and accrediting of the public schools;
17. Have authority to provide for the health and safety of school children and school personnel while under the jurisdiction of school authorities
18. Provide for the supervision of the transportation of pupils; and,
20. Perform all duties necessary to the administration of the public school system in Oklahoma as specified in the Oklahoma School Code.

Id. § 3-104(A)(1, 7, 17, 18, & 20).

¶3 In other provisions of the Code, the Legislature has established policy through its lawmaking powers and then required the Board to promulgate rules to implement those specific acts.1 In light of the Legislature's express statutory delegations of authority to the Board on specific subjects, this opinion addresses whether the Legislature has duly authorized the Board, pursuant to section 3-104 of title 70, to impose particular requirements on schools through rulemaking. In other words, the inquiry centers on whether such a broad grant of power can be justified under the Oklahoma Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act (the "APA"). For the reasons set forth below, the broad statutory provision in section 3-104 does not expressly grant the Board with sweeping authority to promulgate specific rules. Further, while section 3-104 does not violate the non-delegation doctrine, any rule promulgated solely pursuant to that section is invalid and may not be enforced.

II.

DISCUSSION

A. The Legislature may delegate rulemaking authority to the Board, but section 3-104(A)(1) does not authorize rulemaking on a specific statute or subject.

¶4 Article V, section 1, of the Oklahoma Constitution, expressly identifies the Legislature as the lawmaking authority of the State. Then, pursuant to article V, section 36, the authority of the Legislature extends to all rightful subjects of legislation, and specific grants of authority in the Constitution do not work as restrictions upon the legislative power. While the authority to enact laws and establish policy is the sole province of the Legislature, the Legislature may delegate some rulemaking authority to executive branch agencies to implement statutorily mandated policies. Tulsa Cnty. Deputy Sheriff's Fraternal Ord. of Police, Lodge Number 188 v. Board of Cnty. Comm'rs, 2000 OK 2, ¶¶ 8--9, 995 P.2d 1124, 1128; In re Initiative Petition No. 366, State Question No. 689, 2002 OK 21, 46 P.3d 123; 75 O.S.2021, § 250.2.2 Recently, the Oklahoma Supreme Court has recognized the Legislature's ability to delegate some rulemaking authority to the State Board of Education. Western Heights Indep. Sch. Dist. v. State, 2022 OK 79, ¶ 77, 518 P.3d 531, 554. Nevertheless, any delegation of rulemaking authority must not allow an executive branch agency to assume legislative powers beyond those which are properly delegable.

¶5 Generally, an agency may only exercise the powers "expressly given by statute," as well as those "necessary for the due and efficient exercise of the powers expressly granted, or such as may be fairly implied from the statute granting the express powers." Marley v. Cannon, 1980 OK 147, ¶ 10, 618 P.2d 401, 405. An agency "cannot expand those powers by its own authority." Id. (emphasis added). For example, an agency may not identify within the administrative record that it is proposing a rule for the purpose of expanding an existing statutory framework. Thus, "[a]n administrative agency may not under the guise of its rule making power exceed the scope of its authority and act contrary to the statute which is the source of its authority. Its authority to make rules for its various procedures does not include authority to make rules which extend their powers beyond those granted by statutes." Adams v. Professional Pracs. Comm'n, 1974 OK 88, ¶ 11, 524 P.2d 932, 934.

¶6 In 2020, the Attorney General determined that the general powers and duties in section 3-104 were insufficient, solely, to confer statutory authority for rulemaking authority. 2020 OK AG 13. Specifically, in that opinion, this office concluded:

In promulgating the rule in question, the Department did not point to any particular grant of authority from the Legislature. Rather, it cited Title 70, Section 3-104, which generally outlines the "powers and duties" of the State Board of Education. Nothing in Section 3-104, however, references the Henry Program, nor does it expressly or implicitly authorize the actions taken here.

Id. ¶ 14 (emphasis added).

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