29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 800, § 3
Agencies must use consistent formats and a consistent structure throughout the text of a rule.
The delivery of electronic text information to the Secretary of State must be in a manner approved by the APA Office.
Agencies must use a word processing file format approved by the APA Office. This may be ASCII if no other compatibility can be found.
Each file submitted under this chapter must have a filename that consists of the agency's unit number and the chapter number of the rule being submitted, separated by the letter "C." For example, the Secretary of State is Unit 250, and its chapter 11 would be: 250C011.DOC.
When existing rules do not meet all the formatting requirements described below, the agency should comply with them when next repealing and replacing the chapter. When amending a chapter that is not in the preferred format, the agency should either place the entire chapter into the preferred format and repeal and replace it, or submit the amendment in the chapter's existing format and numbering conventions and make the complete replacement at a later time, as soon as it can. The APA Office may, at any time, rearrange a rule's formatting through its power to make non-substantive changes with agency notification.
All submissions should be designed for printing on 8 1/2 x 11 inch pages, portrait orientation.
The basic text font may be any 12 point font or a 10 character per inch fixed font such as Courier 10.
Margins must be 1 inch all around or more.
Rules use an indented block format. [[ARROW]Indent]s rather than [[ARROW]Tab]s should be used. Stops for the [[ARROW]Indent]s using the Courier 10 font are 1.6, 2.2, 2.8, 3.4, 4.0, 4.7 -- every .6 of an inch except for the last one (which allows (viii), the longest subdivision we consider likely). This rule uses those settings. Sub-section 1, for example, would involve the following keystrokes from the margin (using WordPerfect for this and other examples):
ARROW Indent]1.[[ARROW]Indent]text.
Note that the text itself is indented beyond its numbered heading.
Underlines and strikeouts must only be used to show changes in text between the rule currently on file, and the amended rule. If the agency's word processor is incapable of generating underlines or strikeouts, the agency must use another clearly visible technique on the paper copy, such as highlighting, with the approval of the APA Office.
Other character-related features, such as changes in font, redlining, double underlining, bold and italics, may be used for the cosmetic appearance of the printed version of a rule, but only if their removal through a conversion process would not damage the logic and meaning of the rule. Superscript and subscript should be used only if absolutely necessary.
References by numbered citation to statute or other rules within the text of a particular rule should be avoided. This is because an amendment or repeal of the outlying law or rule would interfere with the citation's accuracy. Instead, the rule might refer to the general area of law or regulatory function.
References to page numbers should be avoided, because electronic reformatting often changes page numbering. Page numbers should exist only for the short-term convenience of the user. Tables of contents and indices are better written as citing sections, sub-sections, etc., rather than page numbers.
If graphical attachments are absolutely necessary, they should come with the rule as attendant files in TIFF format, or another format by mutual agreement of the agency and the APA Office.
The agency must scan outgoing diskettes and files for viruses and eliminate any found.
When people think of a "rule," they generally are thinking of a chapter. Chapter numbers are assigned by the APA Office in consultation with the agency. A chapter should be a relatively small body of regulation on a specific topic. Agencies are better served by adopting a number of smaller chapters, than by adopting one massive chapter which attempts to cover all areas of agency responsibility. Smaller chapters are more easily amended, processed, and replaced without affecting other ones; they also lend themselves to more cost-effective distribution.
Rule structure must follow A Guide of the Rulemaking Process for State Agencies, published by the APA Office. The next authoritative source is the Maine Legislative Drafting Manual, published by the Revisor of Statutes. The hierarchy of headings should follow this pattern:
CHAPTER (1,2...) A "rule" is a complete chapter; this is the overall title of your rule.
(SUB-CHAPTERS or PARTS might be allowed in exceptional cases; please consult the APA Officer.)
SECTION (1, 2...) Spell out "SECTION" in caps.; don't use §.
Sub-section (1, 2...) Numbers and letters stand alone from here.
Paragraph (A, B...)
Subparagraph ((1), (2)...)
Division ((a), (b)...)
Subdivision ((i)...)
Within a rule (chapter), this number scheme would be used like this, from the margin:
SECTION 1.
1.
A.
1
a
i
Hybrid numbering such as SECTION 1-A (which would fall between 1 and 2) or paragraph A-1 should be avoided; it would be better to renumber the entire chapter.
Section numbers are sequential throughout the rule. All other numbers revert to the first number in their sequence when the next higher number (heading) changes. For example:
SECTION 1.
1.
2.
3.
SECTION 2.
1.
A.
B.
C.
2.
A.
B.
SECTION 3.
1.
2.
If any rule existing at the time that this chapter takes effect does not conform to the standard structure, the agency should adopt this structure when the rule is next repealed and replaced.
A separate paragraph or note must be indented the same as the section, etc. under which it falls. Agencies should avoid the placing of finer subdivisions between unnumbered paragraphs of a larger subdivision.
29- 250 C.M.R. ch. 800, § 3