BILL ANALYSIS AB 1659 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair AB 1659 (Huber) - As Amended: April 28, 2010 Policy Committee: Business and Professions Vote: 11 - 0 Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This creates a joint sunset review committee and tasks it with reviewing on a periodic basis, every non-constitutional agency and department within the state, with the exception of those associated with postsecondary education. Specifically, this bill: 1)Establishes a new Joint Sunset Review Committee (JSRC) comprised of 10 members of the Legislature. 2)Requires each agency scheduled for repeal, on or before December 1 prior to the year it is set to be repealed, to submit to JSRC a complete agency report covering the entire period since it was last reviewed. 3)Requires the elimination of any agency unless the Legislature enacts a law, based upon a recommendation endorsed by a vote of the majority of the members of the committee, to extend, consolidate, or reorganize the agency. 4)Allows JSRC to recommend that the Legislature extend the statutory sunset date for no more than one year to allow JSRC more time to evaluate the agency. FISCAL EFFECT 1)Annual costs in the range of $250,000 (GF) for the Legislature due to the workload associated with reviewing the boards and bureaus within the Department of Consumer Affairs. AB 1659 Page 2 COMMENTS 1)Rationale . The author envisions this bill as creating a legislative committee that will ultimately review every non-constitutional department, office, commission, agency, council and board within the state, with the exception of those entities related to postsecondary education. As currently written, this bill does not establish sunset dates for state agencies, therefore the JSRC would begin by reviewing any sunsetting boards and bureaus within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The author's office notes that this gradual phase in will allow them time to establish a timeframe and plan for establishing sunset dates for the rest of state government, as specified, including the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, the Department of Public Health, the Department of Social Services and every other department within the state. 2)The Joint Committee on Boards and Commissions . Under current law the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protection is granted the power to hold public hearings at specified times and to evaluate whether a board or regulatory program under the Department of Consumer Affairs has demonstrated a need for its continued existence. Committee members have not been appointed to this committee since 2006 and the jurisdiction is limited to the boards and commissions that fall under the Business and Professions code. The author envisions the new, expanded JSRC as a replacement for that currently inactive committee. 3)Related Legislation . AB 2130 (Huber) only becomes operative if AB 1659 is enacted. That bill makes specified DCA boards subject to review by the JSRC created by AB 1659 and eliminates the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions and Consumer Protection.. That bill is currently pending before this committee. SB 887 (Hollingsworth), similar to this bill, would require the creation of a timeline to establish sunset dates for every state agency, department and program. Under this bill, a newly created Office of the Chief Inspector General would be tasked with reviewing each state entity prior to its sunset and making recommendations for improvements, modifications, or elimination of the department or program. That bill failed passage in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. AB 1659 Page 3 Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081