BILL NUMBER: SB 942	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Dutton

                        FEBRUARY 3, 2010

   An act to add Sections 11349.10 and 11349.11 to the Government
Code, relating to the State Auditor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 942, as introduced, Dutton. State Auditor: analysis of
regulations.
   Under existing law, the State Auditor is required to perform
financial and performance audits as directed by statute. Existing law
also requires the Office of Administrative Law to review existing
regulations, at the request of a legislative committee, to determine
if they meet specified standards. If the office determines that the
regulations do not meet those standards, existing law requires the
office to order the repeal of those regulations, pursuant to
specified procedures.
   This bill would require the State Auditor to survey and perform a
cost-benefit analysis of specified regulations that impose a cost on
private persons or business, publish a catalog of these regulations
and other findings related to them in the California Regulatory
Notice Register, and consider public comment on them. The bill would
require the State Auditor, if he or she determines that any of the
regulations yield more costs to private persons or business than
benefits, to notify the adopting agency in writing the reasons for
its determination and to publish this determination and the reasons
for it in the California Regulatory Notice Register. The bill would
require the adopting agency to respond in writing to the State
Auditor regarding whether the agency will amend or repeal the
regulation or decline to do so. The bill would require the State
Auditor to review and consider all information submitted by the
agency in this connection and, if the State Auditor confirms that the
cost of a regulation to private persons or businesses exceeds its
benefits, he or she would be required to prepare a statement
specifying the reasons for its determination and to recommend to the
Legislature that it enact legislation that will function to amend or
repeal the regulation at the current legislative session. The bill
would require that this catalog, analysis, and review process be
subject to public comment, as specified.
   This bill would also require that all regulations adopted after
January 1, 2011, be repealed 10 years after their effective date
unless the State Auditor determines, as specified, that the benefits
of the regulation to private persons or businesses exceed its costs.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 11349.10 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   11349.10.  (a) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the State
Auditor shall review all existing regulations that impose a cost on
private persons or business, excluding regulations that give effect
to federal law or impose costs on the basis of that private person or
business voluntarily contracting with the government. The State
Auditor shall make a preliminary determination of which regulations
appear to impose the most significant cost on private persons or
businesses, and shall prepare a catalog of these regulations that
lists them in order of cost, with those regulations with the highest
cost listed first. The State Auditor may decline to include those
regulations for which the costs appear to be insignificant. The
catalog shall be completed within one year of completion of the
review, and shall include all of the following:
   (1) A brief description of the regulation.
   (2) The effective date of the regulation.
   (3) Whether the regulation is duplicative of any other regulation.

   (4) An identification of the business sectors, if any, impacted by
the cost imposed by the regulation.
   (b) Based on the regulations listed, the State Auditor shall
publish the catalog in the California Regulatory Notice Register and
consider the written comments submitted by interested persons as to
the order of the regulations listed in the catalog. The public
comment period and any revisions made to the catalog shall be
completed within 30 days of the date of publication.
   (c) Following the publication of the list in subdivision (b), the
State Auditor shall prepare a preliminary cost-benefit analysis of
each regulation in the order listed in the catalog, by applying the
standards established by the Federal Office of Management and Budget,
set out in the most recent publication of "Circular A-4" (Office of
Management and Budget), and shall make a preliminary analysis of
whether the cost of each regulation to a private person or business
outweighs its benefit. In making this analysis, the State Auditor
shall analyze the potential prospective costs and benefits of each
regulation over the next five to 10 years. During the period of the
preliminary analysis made pursuant to this subdivision, all
information available to the State Auditor relating to the analysis
shall be made available to the public.
   (d) Upon completion of the preliminary cost-benefit analysis, the
State Auditor shall publish its findings in the California Regulatory
Notice Register, and shall consider the written comments submitted
by interested persons. The public comment period and any revisions
made to the preliminary cost-benefit analysis shall be completed
within 30 days of the date of publication of the analysis. The State
Auditor may change its findings based on the information received
from the public during the comment period.
   (e) The State Auditor shall prepare a final cost-benefit analysis
within 60 days from the close of the public comment period described
in subdivision (d). The final cost-benefit analysis shall list each
regulation under which the cost to private persons or business
exceeds the benefits of the regulation.
   (f) If the State Auditor determines that any of the regulations
subject to the analysis yield more costs to private persons or
business than benefits, the State Auditor shall notify the adopting
agency, and specify, in writing, the reasons for its determination
that the cost of the regulation exceeds its benefits. The reasons for
his or her determination shall be made available to the public. The
State Auditor shall also publish this determination and the reasons
for it in the California Regulatory Notice Register.
   (g) On or before 60 days after the State Auditor has made the
notification described in subdivision (f), the agency shall respond
in writing to the State Auditor regarding whether the agency will
amend or repeal the regulation or decline to do so. Upon written
application by the agency, the State Auditor may extend the time to
respond an additional 30 days.
   (h) (1) If the agency responds pursuant to subdivision (g) that it
will decline to amend or repeal a regulation, the State Auditor
shall review and consider all information submitted by the agency,
and determine whether it should reconsider its conclusion that the
costs of the regulation to private persons or businesses exceed its
benefits. The State Auditor shall make this determination within 60
days of receipt of an agency's response. In making this
determination, the office shall also review any written comments
submitted to it by the public within 30 days of the publication
required by subdivision (f) in the California Regulatory Notice
Register. During the period of review and reconsideration, the
information available to the State Auditor relating to each
regulation shall be made available to the public. The State Auditor
shall notify the adopting agency within two working days of the
receipt of information submitted by the public in this connection.
   (2) If, after reconsideration, the State Auditor confirms that the
cost of a regulation to private persons or businesses exceeds its
benefits, it shall prepare a statement specifying the reasons for its
determination, and shall recommend to the Legislature that it enact
legislation that will function to amend or repeal the regulation at
the current legislative session. The statement and recommendation
shall be delivered to the adopting agency and the Legislature, and
shall be made available to the public and the courts.
   (i) The requirements of this chapter do not apply to the actions
of the State Auditor in carrying out this section.
  SEC. 2.  Section 11349.11 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   11349.11.  All regulations adopted on or after January 1, 2011,
shall be repealed 10 years after their effective date unless the
State Auditor determines, pursuant to Section 11349.10, that the
benefits of the regulation to private persons or businesses exceed
its costs.