(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, while an agency is developing a regulatory action and before the agency provides a notice of proposed action under AS 44.62.190, the agency may contact a person about the development of the regulatory action, and the agency may answer a question from a person that is relevant to the development of the regulatory action. In this subsection, “regulatory action” means the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, after an agency provides a notice of proposed action under AS 44.62.190, the agency shall make a good faith effort to answer, before the end of the public comment period, a question that is relevant to the proposed action, if the question is received in writing or asked at a public meeting at least 10 days before the end of the public comment period. If a question is received after the 10-day cutoff date, the agency may answer the question. When an agency answers a question under this section, the agency shall answer the question in writing and make the question and answer available to the public. An agency may satisfy the requirements of this section by posting answers to frequently asked questions about the proposed action on the Alaska Online Public Notice System and may aggregate substantially similar questions and agency responses and provide a single consolidated response to substantially similar questions.

(c) In this section, “agency” does not include the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, the Board of Fisheries, the Board of Game, or the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.