BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
AB 410 (Swanson)
Hearing Date: 8/25/2011 Amended: 8/15/2011
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: G O 13-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 410 would require an agency that adopts certain
regulations, upon a request from a person with a visual
disability or other disability for which effective communication
is required under state or federal law, to provide that person a
narrative description of the proposed regulation, as prescribed,
and would provide for an extended public comment period for that
person. This bill would also require an agency to include
within the notice of proposed action a specified statement
regarding the availability of narrative descriptions for persons
with visual or other specified disabilities. This bill would
require an agency that adopts a regulation that is subject to
the requirements of the bill to submit a report to the Governor
and certain committees of the Legislature on or before February
1, 2014, as specified.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
Requirement to use Unknown likely significant cost
annuallyGeneral
narrative descriptions of to specified departments
specified regulations
Office of Administrative Minor, absorbable costs
annually General
Law review
Report Likely minor costs in 2014 General
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE.
Under current law, when a state agency wishes to amend a
regulation, it must make available to the public a notice of
AB 410 (Swanson)
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regulatory action along with the express terms of the proposed
regulatory changes, using underline or italics to indicate
additions to, and strikeout to indicate deletions from, the
existing text. (Government Code section 11346.2(a) (3)) In
addition to the notice and proposed text with typographical
indicators, this section of the law also requires a state agency
to make available to the public an initial statement of reasons
for the proposed adoption, amendment or repeal of the
regulation. The initial statement of reasons may provide a
reader with an express narrative as to the additions to and
deletions from, the California Code of Regulations; however,
this is not required.
The use of typographical indications, such as strikeout and
underline, to denote regulatory changes makes it difficult for
blind or visually impaired individuals to determine changes
being proposed as these indicators are not readily distinguished
using screen reading software. This bill proposes to remedy
this problem by requiring that, in addition to noting changes
using strikeout and underline or italics, a state agency must
also provide a narrative description of the changes.
Staff notes using the current method of employing typographical
indicators to indicate changes, a proposed regulation change
would appear as follows:
Section XYZ is amended to read:
The director Director shall may grant a waiver of this
requirement if the applicant provides evidence of extenuating
circumstances beyond the control of the applicant .
A narrative description might read as follows:
Section XYZ currently provides that, "the director shall provide
a waiver of this requirement if the applicant provides evidence
of extenuating circumstances." The proposed regulatory change
would delete the uncapitalized word "director," add the word
AB 410 (Swanson)
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"Director" with a capital "D," delete the word "shall," add the
word "may," and add at the end of the sentence the phrase
"beyond the control of the applicant."
The provisions of this bill would apply to the following:
(1) Regulations adopted by the Department of Rehabilitation.
(2) Regulations that must be submitted to the California
Building Standards Commission that pertain to disability access
compliance, including, but not limited to, regulations adopted
by the State Fire Marshal, the Department of Housing and
Community Development, the Division of the State Architect, and
the California Commission on Disability Access.
(3) Regulations adopted by the State Department of Education
that pertain to special education.
(4) Regulations that pertain to the Medi-Cal Program.
In order to reduce potential costs of providing narrative
regulations retroactively, staff recommends an amendment to
specify Government Code Section 11346.6, as added by this bill,
be amended to apply to any proposed regulatory action noticed
after January 1, 2012 and until the proposed regulatory action
becomes effective after filing with the Secretary of State or at
the conclusion of the regulatory adoption process.