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Petition and Rulemaking Process

The Marine Board has regulatory authority to make rules for boat operations
Any interested citizen can request that the Marine Board adopt, amend, or repeal a boating regulation through a petition. Complete a fillable petition form and click submit. The agency director may reject an incomplete petition, and the Rules Coordinator will contact you for any clarifications. 

What a Petitioner Can Expect

There are roughly three key timelines for citizen rule petitions to the Oregon State Marine Board:

1.  Petitioner submits a completed online petition form or sends it via email to osmb.rulemaking@boat.oregon.gov
  • Once the petition is received by agency staff and evaluated for completeness.
  • Staff will solicit public comment for a period of time between one and six weeks. 
  • Agency staff will compile and organize comments for the Marine Board to review.
  • At the Marine Board's next quarterly meeting, members will consider the petition, materials, and public comments received from the open comment period. No public comment is taken on the petition at this meeting. 
     The Marine Board will hold a vote and will either:
  • Deny the petition and take no further action OR
  • Accept the petition and direct staff to initiate the rulemaking process. 
2.   If the Marine Board accepts the petition and directs agency staff to initiate rulemaking, staff:
  • Will draft the proposed rule language, which may or may not be verbatim from the petition. 
  • Will submit a Notice of Rulemaking to the Secretary of State's Office.
  • Will solicit further public comment for a period of at least 30 days.
  • May hold a public hearing to provide information to the public about the proposal and to receive oral and written comments.
3.  Marine Board members assemble for their quarterly Board meeting
  • Marine Board considers the public comments that were submitted during the public comment period for the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
  • Marine Board votes on whether to accept the proposal to adopt, amend, or repeal the rule.

    • Notice of any resulting adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule is submitted to the Secretary of State's Office with an effective date.

Petitions can be submitted at any time. Depending on the complexity of the petition and the timing of Board meetings, you can expect a response between 45 and 90 days.

The Board may also ask agency staff to gather research, increase education and outreach efforts, or communicate with marine law enforcement partners for special emphasis patrols to see if these interventions resolve issues before initiating rulemaking.

Oregon Administrative Rules Chapter 137 -Secretary of State, Model Rules for Rulemaking

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Resources

Submitted Petitions

None at this time