How to Submit a Public Comment on a Proposed Rule
Why this matters
When a licensing board, a state agency or a federal agency proposes a rule, it is generally required to publish the text and take written comments before the rule becomes final. Most proposals that reach residential trades get a handful of comments, many of them from people who do not do the work. A single comment from a shop owner that names the section, shows what it does to real jobs and offers better wording is often among the most specific in the file, and agencies are obliged to consider it. The comment that says "this is bad for small business" is not.
This card walks one comment from finding the notice to reading the final rule. How rules get made in the first place is its own card (see related: How Codes and Licensing Rules Actually Get Made). Model code proposals to the ICC or NFPA follow their own procedures and are covered separately (see related: How to Represent Your Shop on a Code Proposal).
Step 1: Find the notice, and the deadline in it
Federal proposed rules are published in the Federal Register, and the comment docket lives on regulations.gov, identified by a docket number printed in the notice. State rules are published in the state register (each state names its own, and most publish online) and usually on the agency's or board's website. Many boards also offer an email list for rulemaking notices, and your state trade association's government affairs staff tracks them.
The notice tells you four things: the agency, the docket or rule number, how to submit, and the deadline. Federal comment periods are commonly 30 to 60 days, set in each notice, and online comments are commonly due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on the closing date; state periods and hours vary by state and by rule, so read the notice rather than assuming.
Why first: everything else is wasted if you miss the window. A comment filed after the deadline is generally not considered, and the agency does not have to respond to it. Put the deadline in your calendar the day you find the notice, with a reminder a week before.
Step 2: Read the proposal itself, not the summary of it
Read three parts: the proposed rule text, the agency's stated reason for each change (federal notices call this the preamble; state notices often include a statement of need or purpose), and any economic or small-business impact statement. Many states require agencies to estimate the cost of a rule on small businesses, and a comment that shows the estimate is wrong for your shop is the kind that gets a response.
Mark each section that touches your work and write one line for each: what it requires, and what it would change on an ordinary week.
What breaks if you skip it: commenting from a newsletter's summary leads you to argue against something the rule does not say, which the agency will note and then ignore.
Step 3: Choose the one or two sections you can speak to with evidence
You do not need to comment on everything. Pick the sections where your shop has evidence the agency is unlikely to have: hours, travel, how often a situation occurs, what customers do when a requirement delays a job. Agencies decide on the record, and a fact from someone who does the work is what the record usually lacks.
Evidence that works: counts from your own job records, scheduling numbers, the number of techs affected, a concrete account of one job, the time a process takes. Evidence that does not: predictions of disaster, claims about what "everyone" thinks, attacks on the agency's motives.
Decide your position on each section separately. It is common, and persuasive, to support the purpose of a rule while asking for a specific change to one provision.
Step 4: Write it in the shape agencies can use
Keep the structure plain:
- Who you are and why your experience is relevant: business, trade, license, years, how many licensees work for you.
- For each section: the section number, your position, your evidence, and the wording you propose instead.
- A short close that restates the specific requests, not the general feeling.
Two to three pages is plenty. Leave out customer names, addresses and anything you would not want published: comments on regulations.gov, and in most states, become public records, usually including your name.
A worked example: a continuing-education rule
A state plumbing board proposes changing renewal continuing education from 6 hours, which may be taken online, to 12 hours per two-year cycle, all in person at approved providers. A shop owner with 9 licensed plumbers reads the notice. The nearest approved provider runs 6-hour class days and sits about 90 minutes each way from the shop, so each class day costs 3 hours of driving.
She works out her numbers per cycle:
- Current rule: 6 hours online per plumber, times 9 plumbers, is 54 hours.
- Proposed rule: two 6-hour class days per plumber, 12 hours of class plus 2 times 3 hours of driving, is 18 hours per plumber. Times 9, that is 162 hours, of which 9 times 6, or 54 hours, is driving.
- Her ask: 6 hours in person plus up to 6 hours of live, interactive remote instruction. That is 6 hours of class plus 3 hours of driving plus 6 remote, or 15 hours per plumber, 135 hours for the shop, with 27 of them driving.
Her position: support doubling the hours, ask for the remote option. The comment she files:
Re: Proposed Rule 12-4, Continuing Education
Section 12-4.3(b), in-person requirement
Commenter: owner, residential plumbing shop,
9 licensed plumbers, licensed master 19 years
Position: support 12 hours; oppose all-in-person.
Evidence: nearest approved provider is 90 min
each way. Under 12-4.3(b) as proposed, each of
our plumbers spends 18 hours per cycle, 6 of
them driving. Shop total 162 hours, 54 driving.
Each class day takes a plumber off emergency
coverage for a full shift.
Proposed wording: "At least 6 of the 12 hours
shall be in person. The remainder may be live,
interactive remote instruction with attendance
verified by the provider."
Effect: shop total 135 hours, 27 driving.
She attaches one page from her scheduling records showing two Saturday no-heat calls the previous winter that were handled by plumbers who, under the proposed rule, would have been at a class day 90 minutes away. She leaves out the customers' names.
Notice what she does not argue: that 12 hours is too many, or that the board is out of touch. The board's stated reason for in-person instruction was hands-on demonstration, so her wording keeps half in person. That makes her comment easy to adopt, because it serves the board's own stated purpose.
What would change her answer: if an approved provider were 15 minutes away, the travel argument collapses to 3 hours for the whole shop, and she would have little to add beyond support.
Step 5: Submit it the way the notice says, and keep proof
Use the submission method in the notice: the regulations.gov form or upload for federal dockets, and for states whatever the notice specifies, which may be email, a web form, mail or delivery at the hearing. If a hearing is scheduled and you can attend, file in writing anyway; spoken testimony is easy to summarize away, and written comments go in the record whole. See related: How to Speak at a Board or Council Meeting.
Save the confirmation number or a copy of the sent email, the version you submitted and the date. If an association is also filing, send them your evidence; a comment from one shop plus an association comment that cites it carries more weight than two that repeat each other.
A word on form letters. Associations sometimes circulate a template and ask members to sign and send it. Agencies generally treat hundreds of identical letters as one argument made many times: rulemaking is not a vote, and the count matters less than the content. If you use a template, add a paragraph of your own evidence at the top. That paragraph is the part the agency can cite; the rest tells it how many shops share the concern.
What breaks if you skip it: a lost email cannot be proven later, and a comment that never reached the docket has no effect.
Step 6: Follow the rule to its final form
The process does not end with the deadline. A federal agency publishing a final rule must explain its basis and purpose, and in practice responds to significant comments in the preamble. Many states require a similar summary of comments and the agency's response, though the form varies by state. Read it: it tells you whether your section changed and why, and the reasoning helps the next time this board proposes something.
Also watch for a revised proposal. If the agency changes the rule substantially after comments, some states require a new notice and a new comment period, which is a second chance.
Then act on the result. If the rule passes as proposed, plan for it: in the example, the shop would schedule class days across the two-year cycle so no more than one plumber is out on any week. If it passed with her wording, that same planning is simpler.
How to tell your comment did its job
The test is not whether you got your way. It is whether the agency's response shows it read your evidence: your section number cited, your concern summarized accurately, a reason given for accepting or rejecting it. If the response lumps your comment with others under "some commenters expressed concern about cost", your evidence was not specific enough to stand on its own. Next time, lead with the number.
References
- Federal Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. 553 (notice and comment rulemaking)
- Federal Register and regulations.gov, published by the Office of the Federal Register and the General Services Administration
- Your state's administrative procedure act and state register
- See related: How Codes and Licensing Rules Actually Get Made
- See related: The Public Comment That Changed a Rule