(a) The Commissioner is authorized to issue rules necessary or proper for the administration or enforcement of health ordinances, including but not limited to the provisions of this Code pertaining to the regulation of food establishments, including Chapters 4-8, 7-38, 7-40, and 7-42 of this Code, and for the administration or enforcement of environmental ordinances. The Commissioner shall not enact any rule, except those emergency rules described in subsection (b), until the Commissioner holds a public hearing on such rule or until the Commissioner provides an opportunity for the public to submit comments in written or electronic form. If the Commissioner holds a public hearing, the Commissioner shall give not less than ten (10) calendar days' notice of the time and place of such hearing by publication in a prominent location on the Department's website. The Commissioner shall also e-mail notices of all public hearings to persons who file a request with the Department for notice of the Commissioner's intention to issue such rules. If the Commissioner solicits written or electronically submitted comments, the Commissioner shall give public notice by e-mailing a notice of the solicitation of comments to all persons who file such a request with the Department and by publishing such notice in a prominent location on the Department's website with the text of the proposed rule. The Commissioner shall accept written or electronically submitted comments for a period of not less than thirty (30) calendar days from the date of the notice. However, the Commissioner shall have the power to make reasonable administrative and procedural rules interpreting or clarifying the requirements that are specifically prescribed in this chapter and Chapters 4-8, 7-38, 7-40, 7-42, and 11-4 of this Code, without notice, hearing or solicitation of written or electronically submitted comments.
(b) The requirements for notice, hearing, and solicitation of comments shall not apply when immediate effectiveness is required to address an imminent or actual emergency. As soon as practicable after promulgation, such emergency rules shall be published on the Department's public website with notice that they are in force in the City.
(Prior code § 9-7; Amend Coun. J. 3-10-99, p. 91043; Amend Coun. J. 12-13-17, p. 63286, § 1; Amend Coun. J. 1-27-21, p. 26741, Art. II, § 5; Amend Coun. J. 2-24-21, p. 27657, Art. I, § 1)
Editor's note – Formerly § 2-112-100. Coun. J. 2-24-21, p. 27657, Art. I, § 1, renumbered former § 2-112-070 as current § 2-112-040.