BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2041
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 17, 2012

              ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER 
                                     PROTECTION
                                 Mary Hayashi, Chair
                AB 2041 (Swanson) - As Introduced:  February 23, 2012
           
          SUBJECT  :   Regulations: adoption: disability access.

           SUMMARY  :   Requires an agency, when submitting a notice of 
          proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation to the 
          Office of Administrative Law (OAL), to include a statement that 
          the agency shall provide, upon request, a description of the 
          proposed changes included in the proposed action, in a manner to 
          accommodate a person with a visual or other disability for which 
          effective communication is required under state or federal law 
          and that doing so may require extending the period of public 
          comment for the proposed action.

           EXISTING LAW  

          1)Establishes the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), setting 
            forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, 
            and implementation of regulations by state agencies.

          2)Establishes the OAL for the orderly review of adopted 
            regulations. 

          3)Requires an agency to provide a narrative description of 
            proposed regulations to persons with visual or other 
            disabilities upon request, and to provide the requester with 
            an extended public comment period, as specified.

          4)Establishes the Americans with Disabilities Act under federal 
            law, which states that no qualified individual with a 
            disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded 
            from participation in or be denied the benefits of services, 
            programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to 
            discrimination by any such entity. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

          COMMENTS:   

           Purpose of this bill  .  According to the author, "The APA governs 








                                                                  AB 2041
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          the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of 
          regulations by state agencies.  Existing law also requires an 
          agency to publish a notice of proposed action that includes 
          specified information, thus giving the public an opportunity to 
          meaningfully participate in the regulatory process. 

          "Unfortunately, the reading software used by the blind and 
          visually impaired is unable to accurately interpret the 
          formatted text used by state agencies. Assemblymember Swanson's 
          Equal Access to Public Information for the Blind Act (Act), 
          which was signed by Governor Brown and became effective on 
          January 1, 2012 (AB 410, Chapter 495, Statutes of 2011) 
          attempted to fix this problem with respect to specified agencies 
          by requiring those agencies to provide proposed regulations in a 
          narrative format that can be interpreted by the reading software 
          used by the blind. 

          "The Act also required those designated agencies to include in 
          their notice of proposed actions a statement regarding the 
          availability of the new narrative descriptions.  Although the 
          Governor signed AB 410 in its entirety, the notice provision was 
          unintentionally chaptered out by another bill.  AB 2041 would 
          ensure that the provision is added into law, as was the intent 
          of the original bill."  

           Background  .  The OAL ensures that agency regulations are clear, 
          necessary, legally valid, and available to the public.  The 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 the 
          Secretary of State, and for publishing regulations in the 
          California Code of Regulations (CCR). 

          The Federal Register provides legal notice of federal rules and 
          notices and makes them available in narrative description.  

           Previous legislation  .

          AB 410 (Swanson), Chapter 495, Statutes of 2011, requires an 
          agency to provide a narrative description of proposed 
          regulations to persons with visual or other disabilities upon 
          request, and to provide the requester with an extended public 
          comment period, as specified.

          AB 1787 (Swanson) of 2010 requires agencies to include a 








                                                                  AB 2041
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          narrative description of additions and deletions made to the CCR 
          that allows reading software used by the visually impaired to 
          translate those changes made to the CCR.  This bill was held in 
          Assembly Appropriations Committee.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file.

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Angela Mapp / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 
          319-3301