Organization of the Mississippi Administrative Code

Organization of the Mississippi Administrative Code. A. The purpose of the organizational structure set forth in these rules is to allow a flexible adaptation for both large, complex agencies as well as smaller agencies, boards, or commissions, yet achieve a simplified uniform identity for the Administrative Code. The basic organization of the Code is Title/Part/Chapter/Rule. Agencies that need additional levels of organization may utilize Subparts and Subchapters. Every agency that fully complied with prior rules on organization of the Administrative Code on or before January 1, 2010, as determined by the Secretary of State's Office, may maintain its current title assignment and rule structure, provided that any such agency submits an updated, complete compilation of its rules as required by Rule 3.2. Agencies that must format rules in accordance with federal or other superseding law or Agencies that prepare and publish manuals may request a waiver from compliance with this rule, in the discretion of the Secretary of State's Office. B. The Mississippi Administrative Code is organized into Titles which either correspond to primary state agencies or to broad subject matters. Titles are determined by the Secretary of State’s Office. Title assignments by the Secretary of State are compiled in a document called “Index of Titles of the Mississippi Administrative Code” which will be posted on the Secretary of State’s website with the Bulletin and the Code. The Index of Titles of the Mississippi Administrative Code shall be updated by the Secretary of State for publication on an as needed basis without the necessity of engaging in rulemaking procedures pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act. C. Parts (and Subparts, where necessary) relate to subject or topic areas of responsibility the agency administers. These may or may not correspond to the office, branch, or division within an agency since each office, branch, or division may administer one or more unrelated subjects or multiple related subjects. For small agencies, boards, or commissions that administer a single area of responsibility, the use of a single Part under the heading “Licensing and Enforcement,” for example, may be sufficient for its needs. Parts are assigned by the Secretary of State's Office. Agencies that share a Title should refer to the Index of Titles of the Mississippi Administrative Code to determine the range of Parts assigned to the agency. D. Chapters (and Subchapters, where necessary) are groupings of related rules within a Part (or Subpart). For example, an agency may group together rules pertaining to applications, examinations, licensing, enforcement, fees and fines, hearing administration, etc., in respective Chapters, depending upon the agency’s organizational structure and complexity. E. A rule is the fundamental unit of the Administrative Code. Rules are contained within Chapters or Subchapters. F. Each rule is identified with its own Mississippi Administrative Code citation format. The structure of the citation is as follows: [title] Mississippi Administrative Code, Pt. ___, R. ___.___. i. [title] represents the agency designation or broad subject matter title within which the regulation is organized, as assigned by the Secretary of State. ii. Pt. ___ represents the Part in which Chapters (and Subparts, where necessary) are housed. iii. R. ___.___ represents Rule numbers, the prefix being the chapter number, and the suffix being the rule number. 1. Example: If the Secretary of State filed Rule number 2 in chapter 30, Part 2, the citation is: 1 Mississippi Administrative Code Pt. 2, R. 30.2. 2. The short citation is : 1 Miss. Admin. Code Pt. 2, R. 30.2. If an agency uses sub-categories not denoted in the above citations, they must include those sub-categories in the rule citation following as closely as possible the citation format noted above.