BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 126
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 126 (Steinberg)
As Introduced January 27, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :39-0
TRANSPORTATION 14-0 BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS 9-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Hayashi, Bill Berryhill, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Allen, Butler, Eng, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Hagman, Hill, Ma, Smith |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | | |
| |Galgiani, Logue, Miller, | | |
| |Norby, Portantino, | | |
| |Solorio | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 16-0
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, | | |
| |Blumenfield, Bradford, | | |
| |Charles Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Davis, Donnelly, | | |
| |Dickinson, Hall, Hill, | | |
| |Lara, Nielsen, Norby, | | |
| |Solorio, Wagner | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Codifies the process by which the California
Transportation Commission (CTC) is to adopt guidelines.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Makes legislative findings and declarations regarding the need
to ensure that CTC's process for adopting program guidelines
is understandable, predictable, and transparent and provides
ample opportunity for public review and comment on proposed
guidelines.
2)Provides, notwithstanding any other provision, in instances
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where CTC adopts guidelines, the guidelines will be exempt
from rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA).
3)Sets forth a process governing CTC's adoption of guidelines
after January 1, 2012, (except for guidelines adopted to
implement the State Transportation Improvement Program) as
follows:
a) CTC's legal counsel is required to review the proposed
guidelines for necessity, authority, clarity, consistency,
reference, and redundancy and recommend any changes to CTC
commissioners. Comments and recommendations made by legal
counsel will be subject to attorney-client privilege,
unless otherwise waived. The CTC Executive Director is
required to distribute the recommendations and
communications with legal counsel to all commissioners;
b) Program or policy guidelines are to be first presented
at a CTC hearing for purposes of receiving public comment;
c) Final proposed guidelines will be presented at a CTC
hearing;
d) At least 45 days prior to the hearing, copies of the
proposed guidelines must be distributed and be made
available in electronic format;
e) Proposed guidelines must include a notice of the right
of the public comment on the guidelines;
f) Following the proposed guideline review process, CTC
staff will summarize all comments and explain any changes
to the guidelines in response to comments made;
g) Staff recommendations and summary must be made public 15
days prior to a regular CTC hearing; and,
h) Guidelines must be adopted by a majority of the
commission membership.
4)Requires CTC to maintain complete files on guideline adoption
proceedings, including a summary of each objection or
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recommendation made and an explanation of how the proposed
guidelines were changed to accommodate each objection or
recommendation, or the reason no change was made.
5)Requires CTC to include in its annual report to the
Legislature an accounting of its activities related to
guideline adoption during the prior year.
EXISTING LAW :
6)Establishes CTC and prescribes its membership and
responsibilities, including advising and assisting the
Secretary of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency
and the Legislature in formulating and evaluating state
policies and plans for transportation programs in the state.
7)Directs, in various provisions, CTC to establish guidelines to
implement specific programs.
8)Sets forth the APA and vests with the Office of Administrative
Law (OAL) the responsibility for an orderly review of adopted
regulations.
9)Prohibits any state agency from issuing utilizing, enforcing,
or attempting to enforce any "guideline, criterion, bulletin,
manual, instruction, order, standard of general application,
or other rule."
10)Excludes from provisions of the APA any regulation that
relates only to the internal management of a state agency.
11)Defines "regulation" to mean "every rule, regulation, order,
or standard of general application or the amendment,
supplement, or revision of any rule, regulation, order, or
standard adopted by any state agency to implement, interpret,
or make specific the law enforced or administered by it, or to
govern its procedure."
12)Sets forth procedures to be followed by APA for promulgating
regulations with timeframes similar to those set forth in this
bill.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, absorbable costs to the CTC, which indicates that the
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bill's requirements are generally in line with current practice.
COMMENTS : The author introduced this bill because he believes
that, on some occasions, the CTC's process for guideline
adoption lacked transparency and has not provided the public
with ample opportunity to fully review and comment on items at
issue in the proposed guidelines. This bill would codify a
process whereby CTC would adopt program guidelines but it would
do so in a way that avoids the often-cumbersome process by which
regulations are promulgated via the OAL.
Related legislation: SB 1348 (Steinberg) of 2010, was identical
to this bill. It passed the Legislature unanimously but was
vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. In his veto message, the
Governor stated that bill was unnecessary because it would have
established a formal process that is very similar to the process
already used by the CTC.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0001766