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Updating Air Quality Control Commission Procedural Rules

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Update: During its November 2024 meeting, the Air Quality Control Commission directed updates to its procedural rules. The commission plans to take final action in December 2024 to adopt the new rules. 

Overview

The Air Quality Control Commission’s procedural rules guide how the commission must run meetings and rulemaking hearings. In its November meeting, the commission directed updates to its procedural rules to improve the rulemaking process. These updates aim to modernize the process and better meet community needs. 

The revised procedural rules aim to achieve several goals, including:

  • Better readability and consistency with current practices.
  • Creating a more robust pre-petition process that encourages more public participation and complies with the Colorado Environmental Justice Act.
  • Allowing more opportunities throughout the rulemaking process for increased communication for better understanding of the rule and to foster transparency.
  • Providing preliminary rule language earlier in the process to the public for comment and feedback.

The commission plans to take final action in December 2024 to adopt the new rules. Through these new changes, the commission aims to enhance diverse community and stakeholder engagement in rulemakings, reduce the time spent on rulemakings, and simplify the commission rulemaking process.

The revised procedural rules will impact rulemaking hearings that are requested after Aug. 1, 2025.

Next steps: Updating the procedural rules guidebook

In 2025, the commission and CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division plan to update the procedural rules guidebook. The guidebook describes best practices and expectations for how and when outreach should happen. Anyone wanting to propose a rule for the commission’s consideration will be required to follow the Colorado Environmental Justice Act for outreach to communities and stakeholders.

Public meetings

The CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division hosted online public meetings in 2024. All Coloradoans were welcome to join, learn more about the procedural rules, and share their ideas and feedback.

The public meeting agenda included:

  • A plain language presentation.
  • An opportunity to provide public comments.
  • A question and answer session.

Technical meetings

Division and commission staff hosted online technical meetings for interested stakeholders in 2024. These meetings went into detailed discussion about the procedural rules and proposed changes.

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