BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1857
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 9, 2002

                   ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
                                  Lou Correa, Chair
                    AB 1857 (Wayne) - As Amended:  March 19, 2002
           
          SUBJECT  :   Administrative Procedure Act.

           SUMMARY  :   Clarifies and refines the administrative rulemaking  
          procedure based on recommendations of the California Law Review  
          Commission.  Specifically, this bill  :  

          1)Expands the requirement that an agency publish certain  
            rulemaking documents on its website to include the text of a  
            proposed emergency rulemaking action and the date the proposed  
            action is submitted to the Office of Administrative Law.

          2)Provides that rulemaking documents shall be posted on issuance  
            and remain posted until at least 15 days after the end of the  
            rulemaking process.

          3)Clarifies requirements that an agency must describe reasonable  
            alternatives to a proposed regulation and reasonable  
            alternatives that would lessen any adverse impact on small  
            business.  It does this by stating that both requirements are  
            subject to the existing rule that an agency need not  
            "artificially construct alternatives or justify why it has not  
            identified alternatives" and revises these provisions to make  
            them more uniform.

          4)Replaces ambiguous provisions with a requirement that an  
            agency representative either responds to the substantive  
            questions regarding inquiries on proposed regulations or  
            directs them to another person in the agency for a prompt  
            response.

          5)Adjusts the scope of the exemption that the Fish and Game  
            Commission has from certain time periods specified in the  
            rulemaking procedure by including a recently added time period  
            that should have been covered in previous legislation but was  
            not.

           EXISTING LAW  under the Administrative Procedure Act details the  
          requirements that regulations must adhere to prior to their  
          adoption.  These requirements include public comment periods on  








                                                                  AB 1857
                                                                  Page  2

          proposed regulations, review periods, publication requirements,  
          and implementation procedures.  The Office of Administrative Law  
          is the state government entity that oversees the adoption of  
          proposed regulations.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

          1)The author is carrying this bill on behalf of the California  
            Law Review Commission (CLRC).  According to the CRLC, this  
            bill is the product of the Commission's recommendation on  
            Administrative Rulemaking Refinements (February 2002).  This  
            recommendation addresses rulemaking issues not previously  
            considered by the Commission in prior legislation, AB 1822  
            (Wayne), Chapter 1060, Statutes of 2000.


           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          California Law Review Commission (sponsor)
          Consumer Attorneys of California

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    David Pacheco / B. & P. / (916)  
          319-3301