BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 338
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 338 (Wagner)
As Amended April 15, 2011
Majority vote
BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 7-1
APPROPRIATIONS 9-0
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|Ayes:|Hayashi, Bill Berryhill, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, Charles |
| |Allen, Butler, Hagman, | |Calderon, Donnelly, |
| |Hill, Smyth | |Gatto, Hill, Nielsen, |
| | | |Norby, Wagner |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Ma | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to
submit a copy of disapproved regulations to the Legislature when
certain criteria are met, as specified. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Increases from 30 to 90 days the effective date of a
regulation or an order of repeal after the date of filing with
the Secretary of State (SOS), except where already exempted.
2)Requires the OAL to submit a copy of any disapproved
regulation to the Legislature when OAL finds that the agency
exceeded its statutory authority in adopting the regulation.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the OAL.
2)Governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal
of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those
regulatory actions by the OAL, under the Administrative
Procedures Act (APA).
3)Provides that a regulation or an order of repeal filed with
the SOS shall become effective on the 30th day after the date
of filing, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
AB 338
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Committee:
1)Costs of this legislation should be minor and absorbable
within OAL's existing resources because it is very rare for a
proposed regulations package to be rejected on the grounds
that it exceeds statutory authority.
2)Minor and absorbable costs for the workload associated with
processing "good cause" requests to enact legislation earlier
than the 90-day effective date.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "The system for the approval
of the adoption, amendment or repeal of a regulation on a
business excludes the Legislature before approval and does not
allow enough time for the regulations being acted upon to be
addressed before they are enacted.
"ÝThis bill] addresses these issues very simply. First, it will
require that the OAL send a copy of each disapproved regulation
to the Legislature in cases where the regulation was disapproved
for reasoning which claims that the agency exceeded its
statutory authority in adopting the regulation.
"Secondly, from the day a regulation is submitted to the SOS, it
will be 90 days before the regulation can go into effect. This
resolves the short time frame that currently exists which is
only 30 days."
The APA governs the adoption of regulations by state agencies
for purposes of ensuring that they are clear, necessary, legally
valid, and available to the public. In seeking adoption of a
proposed regulation, state agencies must comply with procedural
requirements that include publishing the proposed regulation
along with supporting statement of reasons; mailing and
publishing a notice of the proposed action 45 days before a
hearing or before the close of the public comment period; and,
submitting a final statement to OAL that summarizes and responds
to all objections, recommendations and proposed alternatives
that were raised during the public comment period. The OAL is
then required to approve or reject the proposed regulation
within 30 days. This bill increases the effective date for a
regulation or an order of repeal of a regulation to 90 days
after the date of filing with the SOS.
AB 338
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OAL is responsible for reviewing administrative regulations
proposed by over 200 state agencies for compliance with the
standards set forth in the APA, for transmitting these
regulations to SOS and for publishing regulations in the
California Code of Regulations. Existing law requires OAL to
review all regulations for necessity and non-duplication, and
requires OAL to print a summary of all regulations filed with
SOS in the previous week in the California Regulatory Notice
Register. This bill would require OAL to forward disapproved
regulations to the Legislature, when OAL finds the regulatory
agency has exceeded its statutory authority.
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301
FN: 0000874