§ 4-306. Emergency regulations.

(a) "State of emergency" defined.

In this section, "state of emergency" means a period of time in which:

(1) a proclamation has been issued by the Governor declaring a state of emergency under Title 14, Subtitle 3 of the State Public Safety Article {"Governor's Emergency Powers"};

(2) a proclamation has been issued by the Governor declaring a catastrophic health emergency under Title 14, Subtitle 3A of the State Public Safety Article {"Governor's Health Emergency Powers"}; or

(3) an order or proclamation has been issued by the Mayor declaring a state of emergency under § 14-111 {"Local state of emergency"} of the State Public Safety Article.

(b) Temporary regulations.

(1) In general.

During a state of emergency, an agency may suspend the provisions of this title and adopt temporary regulations if:

(i) the underlying cause of the state of emergency requires its adoption; and

(ii) the public interest will be materially harmed if the regulation does not take effect immediately.

(2) Effective date.

Any temporary regulation adopted under this section is effective on:

(i) approval by the City Solicitor for form and legal sufficiency;

(ii) approval by the Department of Legislative Reference for form and use of plain language;

(iii) signature by the agency; and

(iv) filing with the director.

(3) Expiration.

(i) Except as provided in subparagraph (ii) of this paragraph, any temporary regulation adopted under this section expires and no longer has legal effect on the 90^th day after the state of emergency has been lifted.

(ii) If, within the 90 days after a state of emergency has been lifted, an agency submits a temporary regulation to the City Solicitor and the Department of Legislative Reference as set forth in § 4-205 {"Submission before publication"} and § 4-301 {"Notice of proposed regulation"} of this title and otherwise follows the notice and publication procedures set forth in this title to adopt that regulation as permanent, the regulation does not expire as stated in subparagraph (i) of this paragraph.