Each agency shall provide for the filing and prompt disposition of petitions for declaratory rulings as to the applicability of any statutory provision or of any rule or order of the agency, and may so provide by procedure or rule. Rulings disposing of petitions have the same status as agency decisions or orders in contested cases. (1967, No. 360 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. July 1, 1969; amended 1981, No. 82, § 3.)