BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2041
Author: Swanson (D)
Amended: 8/15/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMM. : 13-0, 6/26/12
AYES: Wright, Anderson, Berryhill, Calderon, Cannella,
Corbett, De León, Evans, Hernandez, Padilla, Walters,
Wyland, Yee
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/10/12 (Consent) - See last page
for vote
SUBJECT : Regulations: adoption: disability access
SOURCE : California Council of the Blind
DIGEST : This bill requires a state agency that proposes
promulgating regulations 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.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/15/12 add double-jointing
language with AB 1612 (Lara).
ANALYSIS :
CONTINUED
AB 2041
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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 Office of Administrative Law (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.
Comments
Purpose of this bill . According to the author:
The APA governs 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
AB 2041
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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.
Prior Legislation
AB 410 (Swanson), Chapter 495, Statutes of 2011, required
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, 2010) would have required agencies to
include a 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. The bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/16/12)
AB 2041
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California Council of the Blind (source)
AFSCME, AFL-CIO
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Council of the
Blind states the following:
In 2011, Section 11346.6 was added to the Government
Code pursuant to the enactment of AB410 (Swanson). That
provision requires certain state agencies, upon request,
to make available a narrative description of proposed
state regulations in a format that can be read by
screenreading software used by persons who are blind or
who have low vision. As part of that measure, Section
11346.5 was amended to require that announcements of
state agency regulations include a notice about the
availability of this narrative description. However,
due to a chaptering out issue, the amendment to
Section11346.5 was superseded. Thus, Assemblymember
Swanson has introduced AB2041 to correct this technical
problem.
The California Council of the Blind, the largest
consumer organization of Californians with vision loss,
was the sponsor of AB410. It was an important piece of
legislation for persons with visual impairments, as it
dramatically increases the ability of persons with
vision loss to participate in the state regulatory
process. The informational announcement required by
Section 11346.5 is an important piece of the regulatory
structure, and thus the amendment contained in AB2041
fills an important gap in the implementation of AB410.
Thus, the California Council of the Blind, on behalf of
all Californians with vision loss, urges the committee
to support AB2041.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 73-0, 5/10/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Beth Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman,
AB 2041
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Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill,
Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell,
Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Pan, Perea,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Valadao, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada,
John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cook, Fletcher, Furutani, Jeffries,
Norby, Olsen, V. Manuel Pérez
DLW:k 8/16/12 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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