Whose rule is it?

On Thursday the House Energy Environment and Technology Committee took care of some housekeeping, complements of the Department of Environmental Quality. The DEQ presented a number of updates to Idaho Code that were overlooked when the department was split off from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare in 2000, including a change to Idaho Code that requires environmental protection rules to go to the H&W for approval instead of the DEQ. Currently, the departments are compensating for this by allowing the DEQ to review them for consistency with Idaho Rules before review by the legislature.