DocketNumber: 4618
Citation Numbers: 9 Conn. App. 622
Judges: Borden, Daly
Filed Date: 2/10/1987
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 9/8/2022
The defendants
Administrative proceedings against the plaintiffs were commenced by service of an amended notice of hearing. The first paragraph of the notice informed the plaintiffs that “[t]he hearing will be conducted in accordance with the procedures set forth in the UAPA (Chapter 54, C.G.S.).” After a hearing, the plaintiffs were found in violation of various sections of the General Statutes. The insurance commissioner accepted and adopted the hearing officer’s findings of fact and conclusions of law. Thereafter, the plaintiffs were fined $4100 and their insurance licenses were suspended for three months.
The plaintiffs appealed to the Superior Court on four grounds. The court held that because the defendant insurance department failed to adopt as a regulation written rules of procedure governing its hearings as
A “regulation” is statutorily defined as an “agency statement of general applicability, without regard to its designation, that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy, or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of any agency.” General Statutes § 4-166 (7). The defendants maintain that § 38-4-8 of its regulations, which was in effect at the time of the hearing, was a regulation providing adequate “rules of practice setting forth the nature and requirements of all formal and informal procedures available” as required by General Statutes § 4-167 (a) (2).
An administrative agency can act only within the bounds of authority granted to it by its enabling statute and within constitutional limitations. It is wholly without power to modify, dilute or change in any way the statutory provisions from which it derives its authority unless the state clearly and expressly grants it that power. Waterbury v. Commission on Human Rights & Opportunities, 160 Conn. 226, 230, 278 A.2d 771 (1971). Although an administrative agency has the statutory power, indeed the obligation, to promulgate rules and regulations, it does not make law. Its rulemaking power extends only to the point of effecting the legislative will as expressed by statute. The UAPA provides uniform rules which guide agencies in the proper execution of their delegated duties. Salmon Brook Convalescent Home v. Commission on Hospitals & Health Care, supra, 363.
This principle is grounded in common sense and simple concepts of fairness. “ ‘The objective is . . . the promulgation . . . of a code governing action and con
The defendants assert that since § 38-4-8 of its regulations specifically referred to Public Acts 1971, No. 854, §§12 through 17, the department had stated the “rules of the game.” Those sections, now §§ 4-177 to 4-182 of the UAPA, encompass rules relating to notice, evidence, the record, conduct of officials and agency members, and license hearings. The defendants argue that the procedures set forth in the UAPA are sufficiently clear to inform parties appearing before the department of the “rules of the game.” Yet, reason dictates otherwise, for “if the legislature had considered that to be true, it would not have provided in the act for the adoption and filing of rules of procedure.” Monahan v. Board of Trustees, 486 P.2d 235, 239 (Wyo. 1971).
The defendants’ reliance on Cope v. Board of Education, 4 Conn. App. 464, 465, 495 A.2d 718 (1985), is misplaced. Cope is distinguishable from the present case because it involved action by a board of education. Boards of education are specifically excluded from the statutory definition of “agency”
There is no error.
In this opinion, Hull, J., concurred.
Both the insurance department and Peter W. Gillies, insurance commissioner, are defendants in this appeal.
The second plaintiff, Conceptional Services, Inc., formerly known as Options Services, Inc., joins in this appeal.
General Statutes § 38-60 provides in pertinent part: “No person shall engage in this state in any trade practice which is ... an unfair method of competition or an unfair or deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance .... The commissioner shall have power to examine the affairs of every person engaged in the business of insurance in this state in order to determine whether such person has been or is engaged in any unfair method of competition or in any unfair or deceptive act or practice prohibited by sections 38-60 to 38-64, inclusive.”
General Statutes § 38-264 provides in pertinent part: “No person or insurer shall directly or indirectly do any of the acts of an insurance business set forth in subsection (a) of section 38-263 except as authorized by the general statutes. In respect to the insurance of subjects resident, located or to be performed within this state this section shall not prohibit the collection of premium or other acts performed outside of this state by persons or insurers authorized to do business in this state, provided such transactions and insurance contracts are otherwise lawful.”
General Statutes § 38-70 provides: “No person shall, within this state, solicit or procure insurance, except with regard to his own property or per
General Statutes § 4-167 (a) provides in pertinent part: “In addition to other regulation-making requirements imposed by law, each agency shall: ... (2) adopt as a regulation rules of practice setting forth the nature and requirements of all formal and informal procedures available provided such rules shall be in conformance with the provisions of this chapter
General Statutes §§ 4-166 through 4-189 is the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act.
See footnote 6, supra.
General Statutes § 4-166 provides in pertinent part: “(1) ‘Agency’ means each state board commission, department or officer, other than . . . regional boards of education . ” (Emphasis added.)