2-4-102. Definitions. For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
     (1) "Administrative code committee" or "committee" means the committee provided for in Title 5, chapter 14.
     (2) (a) "Agency" means an agency, as defined in 2-3-102, of the state government, except that the provisions of this chapter do not apply to the following:
     (i) the state board of pardons and parole, except that the board is subject to the requirements of 2-4-103, 2-4-201, 2-4-202, and 2-4-306 and its rules must be published in the Administrative Rules of Montana and the Montana Administrative Register;
     (ii) the supervision and administration of a penal institution with regard to the institutional supervision, custody, control, care, or treatment of youths or prisoners;
     (iii) the board of regents and the Montana university system;
     (iv) the financing, construction, and maintenance of public works.
     (b) Agency does not include a school district, unit of local government, or any other political subdivision of the state.
     (3) "ARM" means the Administrative Rules of Montana.
     (4) "Contested case" means a proceeding before an agency in which a determination of legal rights, duties, or privileges of a party is required by law to be made after an opportunity for hearing. The term includes but is not restricted to ratemaking, price fixing, and licensing.
     (5) "License" includes the whole or part of any agency permit, certificate, approval, registration, charter, or other form of permission required by law but does not include a license required solely for revenue purposes.
     (6) "Licensing" includes any agency process respecting the grant, denial, renewal, revocation, suspension, annulment, withdrawal, limitation, transfer, or amendment of a license.
     (7) "Party" means a person named or admitted as a party or properly seeking and entitled as of right to be admitted as a party, but nothing in this chapter may be construed to prevent an agency from admitting any person as a party for limited purposes.
     (8) "Person" means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, governmental subdivision, agency, or public organization of any character.
     (9) "Register" means the Montana Administrative Register.
     (10) "Rule" means each agency regulation, standard, or statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy or describes the organization, procedures, or practice requirements of an agency. The term includes the amendment or repeal of a prior rule but does not include:
     (a) statements concerning only the internal management of an agency and not affecting private rights or procedures available to the public;
     (b) formal opinions of the attorney general and declaratory rulings issued pursuant to 2-4-501;
     (c) rules relating to the use of public works, facilities, streets, and highways when the substance of the rules is indicated to the public by means of signs or signals;
     (d) seasonal rules adopted annually or biennially relating to hunting, fishing, and trapping when there is a statutory requirement for the publication of the rules and rules adopted annually or biennially relating to the seasonal recreational use of lands and waters owned or controlled by the state when the substance of the rules is indicated to the public by means of signs or signals;
     (e) rules implementing the state personnel classification plan, the state wage and salary plan, or the statewide budgeting and accounting system;
     (f) uniform rules adopted pursuant to interstate compact, except that the rules must be filed in accordance with 2-4-306 and must be published in the Administrative Rules of Montana.
     (11) "Substantive rules" are either:
     (a) legislative rules, which if adopted in accordance with this chapter and under expressly delegated authority to promulgate rules to implement a statute have the force of law and when not so adopted are invalid; or
     (b) adjective or interpretive rules, which may be adopted in accordance with this chapter and under express or implied authority to codify an interpretation of a statute. The interpretation lacks the force of law.

     History: (1), (3), (9)En. by Code Commissioner, 1979; (2), (4) thru (8), (10), (11)En. Sec. 2, Ch. 2, Ex. L. 1971; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 285, L. 1977; Sec. 82-4202, R.C.M. 1947; R.C.M. 1947, 82-4202; amd. Sec. 4, Ch. 184, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 243, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 671, L. 1985; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 340, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 546, L. 1995.