BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1787
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 5, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1787 (Swanson) - As Amended: April 7, 2010
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 11 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires any agency making changes to state
regulations to provide those changes in narrative format and
states the intent of the legislative intent to require state
agencies to provide regulation amendments in a narrative format
that can be accurately translated by reading software used for
the visually impaired.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)The governor's 2010-11 proposed budget includes more than $3
million and 22 personnel, including 14 attorneys, for the
Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to review all proposed
state regulations, conduct regulations training, and
investigations. The bulk of their workload is devoted to
reviewing regulations.
OAL receives 600-800 regulation packages in a typical calendar
year. In 2008, the office received approximately 700
regulation packages and the length varied from 1 page of text
to 399 pages of text. This legislation would require an
addition to the text itself that would duplicate the text with
descriptive wording as to what is being deleted or added. The
addition of a second version of the text would significantly
increase the amount of time OAL spends reviewing regulatory
text, because they would have to ensure that the descriptive
text matches the actual regulation text. Given the workload,
costs would likely exceed $1.5 million (GF).
2)Unknown, substantial costs, likely in the cumulative hundreds
of thousands of dollars, for departments developing
AB 1787
Page 2
regulations to create a narrative of the changes in addition
to the original regulations package.
COMMENTS
Rationale . According to the author's office, "Currently, when a
[state] agency submits regulatory changes, they are in a format
that is understood only by a person with vision. Software that
reads for the visually impaired cannot distinguish underline and
strike out [text], which makes it impossible for them to
understand the regulatory changes. Instead, this law would
require each agency to identify each addition to or deletion
from CCR by specific reference to subdivision, paragraph,
subparagraph, clause, or subclause and [include] a narrative
[description] of the items being added, deleted, or amended.
This will make it possible for someone with visual impairment to
understand the changes in a manner that allows for accurate
translation by reading software."
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081