For rules implementing statutes enacted after July 23, 1995, an agency may not rely solely on the section of law stating a statute's intent or purpose, or on the enabling provisions of the statute establishing the agency, or on any combination of such provisions, for its statutory authority to adopt the rule. An agency may use the statement of intent or purpose or the agency enabling provisions to interpret ambiguities in a statute's other provisions.
RCW 34.05.322
Scope of rule-making authority.
Applied in 6 court decisions — leading case Association of Washington Business v. Department of Revenue (2005)
Most recently applied in Brooke Howell v. Dep't of Soc. & Health Servs. (March 2019)
1995 c 403 s 118.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: Washington State Legislature. Reproduced from public-domain Washington statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.