BILL ANALYSIS Ó Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair SB 1520 (Calderon) - State government: administrative efficiency. Amended: May 22, 2012 Policy Vote: GO 12-1, EQ 6-0 Urgency: Yes Mandate: No Hearing Date: May 24, 2012 Consultant: Marie Liu This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File. Bill Summary: This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to provide information to a permit applicant regarding the permit process for a proposed development project. Fiscal Impact: Likely at least in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars from the General Fund beginning in 20113-14 for permit information assistance. Background: In the 1980s through the early 2000s, the state has had a unit for permit assistance- first the Office of Permit Assistance within OPR and later with the Department of Permit Assistance within the Trade and Commerce Agency. In 2003, when the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency was abolished, the state's permit assistance responsibilities were repealed (AB 1757, Committee on Budget) Chapter 229/2003. 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. The APA, among other things, requires preparation of an economic impact assessment and a standardized regulatory analysis under certain conditions. Proposed Law: This bill would reestablish the responsibility within OPR to provide a permit applicant with information regarding the permit approval process and assistance in determining any permits that would be needed for a proposed development project. Further, the OPR would be explicitly authorized to coordinate state agencies to resolve questions or mediate disputes regarding a permit application. This is an urgency measure. SB 1520 (Calderon) Page 1 Related Legislation: There have been several past attempts to reestablish different version of an Office of Permit Assistance within OPR, including SB 959 (Ducheny) 2010 which was vetoed and AB 49 (Gatto) 2011and AB 1549 (Gatto) 2011, which were both held by the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Staff Comments: This bill attempts to provide project proponents with information and assistance in the permit application process in a manner that is more limited than past attempts to establish an Office of Permit Assistance. Depending on the demand, staff estimates that OPR would need at least one PY, and perhaps several, to respond to permit assistance requests at a cost in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. The past proposals to reestablish the Office of Permit Assistance contained a provision that would have allowed OPR to charge a fee on project proponents seeking assistance in an amount that would not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing such assistance. Staff notes that such a fee can limit the fiscal impact of this bill, although it is unlikely that this fee can offset the entire costs of providing such assistance.