Massachusetts General Laws Part I. Administration of the Government (Ch. 1-182) Ch. 30A, § 9

The commissioner of administration shall file with the state secretary prior to July first, nineteen hundred and seventy-eight, rules and regulations for the conduct of adjudicatory proceedings which shall be promulgated pursuant to the rule making procedures of this chapter and which shall be in effect for all state agencies within the executive offices except as provided in this section. Rules established by the commissioner of administration pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be referred to as the “standard rules”. Said standard rules shall include, but not be limited to, provisions relating to the keeping of records of adjudicatory proceedings, the form of a pleading and answer, the form and service of motions, the rights of intervention of persons, procedures for taking depositions, conducting hearings, providing transcripts, submission of oral and written testimony to the agency, and administrative review of the agency's decision. Said standard rules shall take effect ninety days after they are published by the secretary in accordance with the provisions of section six, and shall govern adjudicatory proceedings commenced after said ninety days except as otherwise provided in this section.

Agencies within each of the executive offices may with the approval of the commissioner of administration, file with the secretary rules for the conduct of adjudicatory proceedings in said agency which substitute in whole or in part, or are additions to the standard rules filed by the commissioner. Such substitute rules shall be promulgated pursuant to the rule making procedures of this chapter and shall be filed with the state secretary within sixty days of the publication of the standard rules which shall govern adjudicatory proceedings commenced after ninety days from the publication thereof by the secretary, and shall take effect at the same time as the standard rules.

Thereafter, at any time the commissioner may file amendments to the standard rules. Agencies within any of the executive offices may subject to the approval of the commissioner of administration file substitute rules. Such amendments to the standard rules and such substitute rules shall take effect in accordance with section six.