BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2041| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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 Page 4 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 Page 5 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 **** END ****