Florida Administrative Law: Using the FAC/FAR Website

The basic search allows

• full-text search of the FAC or FAR
• search by chapter number or browse by agency for rules in the FAC
• search by chapter number or browse by FAR issue for notices in the FAR
• search or browse by agency for reference material, defined on the website as a form, document, or related item  "incorporated by reference" into a rule. Reference materials may refer to specific ordinances, standards, specifications, maps, graphs, charts, reports or similar materials generally available to affected persons and published by either a governmental agency or a generally recognized professional organization. Any forms, including instructions, which solicit information or impose requirements not already required by statute or existing rule and which are used by an agency in its dealings with the public must be incorporated by reference in the rule if it meets the definition of a "rule."

The advanced search allows

• keyword search of the FAC, the FAR, or both at one time
• search restricted by department name or division
• FAR search restricted by issue and/or section
• Rule effective date range search
• FAR publication date range search

If you want to

• save searches, or
• save a copy of a comment you submit regarding a proposed rule, or
• communicate with the agency regarding saved comments and agency replies, or
• receive e-mail alerts when a notice is published,

you need to create an account.  Directions for creating a MYFLRules account are located here.

A proposed rule is usually open for public comments for 21 days, starting from the day of publication in the FAR.  Directions for leaving a comment are located here.

Once you have an account, you can subscribe to e-mail notifications and receive regular updates on rulemaking, public meetings, and other agency activities.  Directions for subscribing (and unsubscribing) for notifications are located here.

Both the basic and advanced searches allow exact phrase, Boolean (AND, OR and AND NOT), and proximity (NEAR) searches. Complex searches, using parentheses to separate search units, are also permitted.

• How to Go from a Statute to a Rule

​On the Florida Administrative Code and Florida Administrative Register homepage, type the Florida Statutes section number for which you want to find rules into the full search box:

This will give you a list of all of the adminstrative rules that contain the statute number somewhere in the text or history line.  To search for a statute's subsection, you must put the search in quotation marks: "1001.74(4)".  Otherwise, the search engine will interpret the search as a bad Boolean search.  As it happens, all of the rules promulgated under this statute's subsection have been repealed.

The paper Florida Administrative Code has a statutory cross-reference table in the finding aids volumes.

• How to Go from a Rule to a Statute

​Every rule has a history or credit line beneath the text.  

In 2005, when the rule became final, s. 1001.74(4), Florida Statutes read, "Each board of trustees may adopt rules pursuant to ss. 120.536(1) and 120.54  to implement the provisions of law conferring duties upon it. Such rules must be consistent with rules of the State Board of Education."  This is the agency's rule-making authority.

The law implemented is the substantive law which the rule will expand on or clarify.  In this example, Fla. Stat. s. 1001.74(35), is one of the laws implemented. In 2005, it provided: "Each board of trustees may govern traffic on the grounds of that campus pursuant to s. 1006.66."