BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1520
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 1520
AUTHOR: Calderon
AMENDED: As introduced
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: May 14, 2012
URGENCY: Yes CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : REGULATIONS AND PERMITTING
SUMMARY :
Existing law :
1) Under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), establishes
rulemaking procedures and standards for state agencies.
State regulations must also be adopted in compliance with
regulations adopted by the Office of Administrative Law
(OAL). The APA, among other things, requires preparation
of an economic impact assessment and a standardized
regulatory analysis under certain conditions. An initial
statement of reasons must include certain items, including
a standardized regulatory impact analysis on or after
January 1, 2013. (Government Code §11340 et seq.).
2) Under the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA), sets time limits
relating to determining the completeness of applications
and reaching decisions on development projects. A lead
agency for a development project must approve or disapprove
a project within specified time periods (for example, 180
days from the date the lead agency certifies an EIR (except
90 days for a very low or low income housing project under
certain conditions), 60 days from the date of adopting a
negative declaration or determining that a project is
exempt from CEQA). (Government Code §65920 et seq.).
3) Requires each state agency to consolidate its existing
staff functions relating to contract opportunities for
small business into a single point of contact for small
businesses and designate a small business advocate as a
liaison to small business suppliers. (Government Code
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§14846).
4) Under the Environmental Protection Permit Reform Act of
1993, requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection
to establish an administrative process that may be used at
the request of a permit applicant for the designation of a
consolidated permit agency to administer the processing and
issuance of a consolidated permit for certain projects.
(Public Resources Code §71000 et seq.).
5) Requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to
establish an electronic online permit assistance center
through the Internet that must be available for use by any
business or other entity subject to a law or regulation by
a board, department, or office within the California
Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA). The program
must be called the California Government On Line to
Desktops (CALGOLD) program and must provide software and
other online resources to streamline and expedite
compliance with laws and regulations implemented by
entities within Cal-EPA. The CALGOLD program must, to the
extent feasible, incorporate permit assistance activities
of local, state, and federal entities into its operations.
(Public Resources Code §71040).
6) Under the Economic Revitalization Act, establishes the
Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development
("GO-Biz") within the Governor's office. The office serves
the Governor as the lead entity for business development
issues, including the provision of permitting, siting, and
other regulatory information for business in the state.
The Act includes the California Business Investment
Services Program and the Office of Small Business Advocate,
with various responsibilities. (Government Code §12096 et
seq.).
7) Under International Trade and Investment Law, includes
provisions relating to foreign investment, cooperative
international public infrastructure projects, export
assistance, and related matters. (Government Code §13996.4
et seq.).
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This bill :
1) Makes technical amendments to the Administrative Procedure
Act by:
a) Requiring the initial statement of reasons to include
the standardized regulatory impact analysis for a major
regulation proposed on or after November 1, 2013, rather
than January 1, 2013. (§11346.2(b)(2)).
b) Referring to an economic impact assessment (rather
than an economic impact analysis) and a standardized
regulatory impact analysis (rather than a standardized
regulatory impact assessment) to be consistent with
other provisions of the Act. (§11346.3).
2) Enacts the Streamlined Permit Review Law to:
a) Create a Streamlined Permit Review Team (SPRT)
consisting of the Secretaries of Business,
Transportation and Housing; Environmental Protection;
and Natural Resources. The SPRT, upon request of a
permit applicant, must convene a hearing with permitting
agencies over the project to coordinate actions on
permits, help reduce inconsistencies, and assist in
ensuring that permitting agencies and the public have
information necessary to deem permit applications
complete and act on permits at the earliest feasible
date in accordance with the Law.
b) Set requirements relating to permit applications
that:
i) Require a permitting agency to determine
completeness of an application no later than 30
days after receiving an application for a permit in
accordance with the Permit Streamlining Act (PSA)
or request additional information necessary to
determine the completeness of an application.
ii) Require a permitting agency for a project to
act on a permit as soon as reasonably possible, but
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no later than the time permitted in accordance with
the PSA; failure to act must be deemed approval of
the permit application in accordance with the PSA;
and the permitting agency must provide public
notice when the project is approved pursuant to
these provisions.
iii) Authorize the above time limits to be
extended upon written agreement of the lead and
permitting agencies.
iv) Prohibit the above time limits from applying
if federal requirements or delegation agreements
establish differing time limits, and failure to
comply with the federal time schedules could affect
disposition of the project.
c) Provide that except as otherwise provided above, the
Law does not affect in any manner the requirements,
duties, or authority of a permitting agency established
by statute; and provides that nothing in the PSA affects
the authority for an agency to adopt regulations.
d) Require the SPRT to report to the Governor and
Legislature by March 1, 2015, on the number and types of
development projects for which the Law was used, and the
disposition of those development projects; sunsets the
above requirements on January 1, 2014, except for the
March 1, 2015, reporting requirement; and sunsets the
Law March 15, 2015.
3) Contains an urgency clause.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . According to the author, SB 1520 makes
technical and clarifying changes to SB 617 (Calderon and
Pavley) Chapter 496, Statutes of 2011, and would "advance
the idea of a one-stop permitting process for large
projects needing multiple state permits."
2) Legislature addresses Administrative Procedure Act issues
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in 2011 . SB 617 (Calderon and Pavley) Chapter 496,
Statutes of 2011, made several revisions to the
Administrative Procedure Act relating to reasonable
alternatives to regulations, economic impact assessments,
standardized regulatory impact analysis for a major
regulation which must be reviewed by the Department of
Finance, enumeration of anticipated benefits, determination
of more cost effective alternatives, and various other
matters.
SB 1520 makes clarifying amendments to two provisions of SB
617 that: a) require the initial statement of reasons to
include the standardized regulatory impact analysis for a
major regulation proposed on or after November 1, 2013,
rather than January 1, 2013; and b) refer to an economic
impact assessment (rather than an economic impact analysis)
and a standardized regulatory impact analysis (rather than
a standardized regulatory impact assessment) to be
consistent with other provisions of the Act.
3) State permit assistance efforts . AB 884 (McCarthy) Chapter
1200, Statutes of 1977, established Permit Streamlining Act
requirements, and required The Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) to ensure that state agencies comply with
the act. SB 992 (Garamendi) Chapter 1263, Statutes of
1983, created the Office of Permit Assistance (OPA) within
OPR and delegated various permit assistance
responsibilities (e.g., providing information to developers
on local and state permits, mediating disputes involving
local and state permits) to OPA.
The Assembly Local Government Committee and Assembly Natural
Resources Committee held a joint hearing regarding state
permit streamlining activities on March 16, 1992, due to
concerns that other state agencies were also involved in
permit assistance activities. For example, the California
Department of Commerce (which later became an agency)
established an "Environmental Assistance Team" and a Small
Business Development Center Program was established in the
Office of Small Business. Cal-EPA was also meeting with
various groups in an effort to streamline permits in the
state.
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AB 2351 (Committee on Ways and Means) Chapter 56, Statutes of
1993, created the Department of Permit Assistance within
the Trade and Commerce Agency, which replaced OPA and
assumed OPA's functions and duties. (with §65913
recodified as §15399.51, and §§65922.3, 65922.5, and
65922.7 recodified as §§15399.50, 15399.52, and 15399.53).
AB 1788 (Brewer) Chapter 717, Statutes of 1995 clarified
§§15399.50 and 15399.53.
AB 1102 (Jackson) Chapter 65, Statutes of 1999, required the
Secretary for Environmental Protection to establish permit
assistance centers throughout the state to provide
assistance in complying with Cal-EPA laws and regulations.
AB 1102 also created the CALGOLD program and required the
Secretary to annually report to the Legislature on various
permit assistance matters.
AB 1756 (Committee on Budget) Chapter 228, Statutes of 2003,
repealed requirements for the permit assistance centers and
the annual reporting requirements, while retaining the
CALGOLD program. AB 1757 (Committee on Budget) Chapter
229, Statutes of 2003, abolished the Technology, Trade, and
Commerce Agency, transferred certain agency duties to other
state agencies, and repealed permit assistance
responsibilities.
OPR, however, continues to have important responsibilities.
These include, for example, formulating long-range land use
goals and policies, helping state departments with
functional plans, resolving conflicts with state agencies,
assisting the Department of Finance to integrate state
plans and the Budget, coordinating statewide environmental
monitoring, coordinating environmental review of
development projects, coordinating state research on growth
and development, coordinating state departments' technical
planning assistance, managing state planning grants,
developing long-range growth and development policies,
encouraging local and regional planning, adopting and
updating the General Plan guidelines, adopting and updating
the CEQA guidelines, operating the State Clearinghouse,
coordinating state agency environmental justice activities,
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and preparing the state Environmental Goals and Policy
Report.
4) Related legislation . SB 959 (Ducheny) of 2010 established
various requirements relating to an Office of Permit
Assistance within OPR, and was vetoed. AB 49 (Gatto) of
2011 is similar to SB 959, and was held on the Assembly
Appropriations Committee suspense file.
SB 366 (Calderon) of 2011 included a Streamlined Permit Review
process similar to that of SB 1520, but with earlier sunset
dates, along with revisions to the Administrative Procedure
Act. Hearings in the Senate Governmental Organization
Committee were cancelled at the author's request and
postponed by the Committee.
AB 29 (John A. Perez) Chapter 475, Statutes of 2011, created
the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development
within the Governor's office, with various
responsibilities.
5) Outstanding issues . As noted above, the Permit
Streamlining Act (PSA)
sets time limits relating to determining the completeness
of applications and reaching decisions on development
projects. SB 1520 adds Streamlined Permit Review Law as
part of the PSA that is based on PSA procedures. Since
local and state entities, as well as project applicants,
are familiar with the PSA, these provisions should simply
be stricken to avoid any possible confusion over permit
application and approval deadlines.
SB 1520 also creates a Streamlined Permit Review Team to
coordinate certain permit-related matters. Rather than
creating such a team composed of three agency secretaries,
there would be more assistance to project applicants
through permit assistance from OPR (some of these were
former responsibilities of the Office of Permit Assistance
at OPR, which were transferred to the Trade and Commerce
Agency before that agency was abolished in 2003, and
included in SB 959 of 2010 and AB 49 of 2011).
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These OPR permit assistance functions would include: a)
providing information to project applicants on state agency
permits for a project and providing information on the
permit process, and b) convening a meeting of state
entities to resolve questions or mediate disputes arising
from a permit application for a proposed development
project.
Technical amendments are also needed to strike "analysis" on
page 5, lines 27 and 30, and insert: "assessment."
SOURCE : Senator Calderon
SUPPORT : None on file.
OPPOSITION : None on file.