Administrative rules
A statute says what shall happen; the rules say how, and the agency writes them. This is the least visible part of the process and one of the most consequential.
This is the least visible part of the process and one of the most consequential.
A statute says what shall happen. It rarely says how. The detail — the form, the threshold, the deadline, the licence conditions — goes into administrative rules, and the agency writes those, not the legislature. A bill will often say, in as many words, that "the department shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A". That sentence is the legislature handing over the detail.
The legislature keeps a say
Rules do not simply take effect. The Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules — JLCAR, members of both chambers — reviews proposed rules and can object to one it thinks goes beyond what the statute allows or conflicts with legislative intent. This is where the legislature keeps a hold on how its own statute is carried out.
Why it matters to a reader here
If you have followed a bill through this site to the point where it became law, the law may not be the end of the story. The rule written afterwards is often where the question you actually care about is answered, and it is written in a process with far fewer people watching than the hearing you listened to.
This site does not carry administrative rules themselves, and does not track a rulemaking after a bill becomes law. The rules register and JLCAR's own dockets are where that continues, linked below.