BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 1520
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   June 26, 2012

              ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER 
                                     PROTECTION
                                 Mary Hayashi, Chair
                    SB 1520 (Calderon) - As Amended:  May 30, 2012

           SENATE VOTE  :   38-0
           
          SUBJECT  :   State government: administrative efficiency.

           SUMMARY  :   Requires the Office of Planning and Research (OPR) to 
          provide information to a permit applicant regarding the permit 
          process for a proposed development project, revises an 
          implementation date, and makes other conforming changes.  
          Specifically,  this bill :   

          1)Requires OPR to provide information to an applicant for a 
            permit explaining the permit approval process, as specified.

          2)Authorizes OPR to call a conference of parties, at the state 
            level, to resolve questions or mediate disputes arising from a 
            permit application for a development project.

          3)Allows OPR to charge a permit applicant for a proposed 
            development project, a fee that does not exceed estimated 
            reasonable costs of providing the service.

          4)Requires a statement of reasons for the adoption, amendment or 
            repeal of a regulation to include a standardized impact 
            analysis for each major regulation proposed after November 1, 
            2013, instead of January 1, 2013, under existing law. 

          5)Requires agencies proposing to adopt, amend or repeal a 
            regulation prior to November 1, 2013, to prepare an economic 
            assessment. 

          6)Contains an urgency clause. 

           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Establishes the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which is 
            charged with rulemaking procedures and standards for the 
            adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state 
            agencies charged with the enforcement of state laws and for 








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            the review of those regulations by the Office of 
            Administrative Law (OAL).

          2)Requires every agency to submit to OAL, a notice of proposed 
            action and make a copy of the express terms of the regulation 
            available to the public upon request. 

          3)Requires for every major regulation proposed on or after 
            January 1, 2013, a standardized regulatory impact analysis.  

          4)Requires state agencies that are proposing to adopt, amend or 
            repeal any administrative regulation to assess the potential 
            for adverse economic impact on California business enterprises 
            and individuals. 

          5)Establishes the permit streamlining act. 

          6)Provides that the Legislature finds and declares that there is 
            a statewide need to ensure clear understanding of the specific 
            requirements which must be met in connection with the approval 
            of development projects and to expedite decisions on such 
            projects.

          7)Requires any state agency, which is the lead agency for a 
            development project, to inform the permit applicant that the 
            Office of Permit assistance has been created in OPR to assist 
            and inform developers relating to the permit approval process.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   

           Purpose of this bill  .  According to the author, "from a project 
          review standpoint, this bill is an attempt to encourage a 
          quicker review of applications for pending California 
          development and other projects to expedite review and processing 
          under applicable California law.

           Background  .  The APA governs the adoption of regulations by 
          state agencies for purposes of ensuring that they are clear, 
          necessary, legally valid, and available to the public.  In 
          seeking adoption of a proposed regulation, state agencies must 
          comply with procedural requirements that include publishing the 
          proposed regulation along with supporting statement of reasons; 
          mailing and publishing a notice of the proposed action 45 days 








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          before a hearing or before the close of the public comment 
          period; and, submitting a final statement to OAL that summarizes 
          and responds to all objections, recommendations and proposed 
          alternatives that were raised during the public comment period.  
          The OAL is then required to approve or reject the proposed 
          regulation within 30 days.  

          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 Secretary of State and for publishing regulations 
          in the California Code of Regulations.  Existing law requires 
          OAL to review all regulations for necessity and non-duplication, 
          and requires OAL to print a summary of all regulations filed 
          with SOS in the previous week in the California Regulatory 
          Notice Register.  

          The state previously had a unit for permit assistance.  The 
          Office of Permit Assistance was located within OPR and 
          subsequently, the Department of Permit Assistance was located 
          within the Trade and Commerce Agency.  In 2003, the Technology, 
          Trade, and Commerce Agency was abolished, and the state's permit 
          assistance responsibilities were repealed, AB 1757 (Committee on 
          Budget), Chapter 229, statues of 2003.

          OPR is designated in statute as the state comprehensive planning 
          agency.  It is responsible for a number of programs and 
          activities including, formulating long-range goals and policies 
          for land use, population growth and distribution, urban 
          expansion, land development, resource preservation, and other 
          factors affecting statewide development patterns.  It further 
          develops and adopts guidelines for the preparation of city and 
          county general plans, provides general planning assistance to 
          local governments, and serves as the state's "single point of 
          contact" for evaluation of federal funding proposals.

           Previous Legislation  .  AB 29 (John A. Pérez), Chapter 475, 
          Statutes of 2011, created the Governor's Office of Business and 
          Economic Development within the Governor's office, with various 
          responsibilities.

          SB 617 (Calderon and Pavley), Chapter 496, Statutes of 2011, 
          revised various provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act 
          (APA) and required each state agency to prepare a standardized 
          regulatory impact analysis, as specified, with respect to the 








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          adoption, amendment, or repeal of a major regulation, proposed 
          on or after November 1, 2013.

          AB 49 (Gatto) of 2011, reestablished the Office of Permit 
          Assistance (OPA) under the Governor's OPR to help facilitate 
          state and local review of commercial and industrial development 
          projects.  This bill was held on the Assembly Appropriations 
          Committee suspense file.

          AB 632 (Wagner) of 2011, required state agencies to submit to 
          the Legislature a notice of a proposed action to adopt, amend or 
          repeal a regulation, if the notice identifies an economic 
          impact, cost impact, statement or finding related to the 
          proposed regulation, as specified.  This bill was held in the 
          Assembly Business, Professions and Consumer Protection 
          Committee.

          SB 366 (Calderon) of 2011, among other things, created a 
          Streamlined Permit Review Team charged with improving the 
          efficiency of the state permitting process for development 
          projects.  This bill died in the Senate Governmental 
          Organization Committee.

          AB 2529 (Fuentes) of 2010, established, until January 1, 2016, a 
          process for peer review of economic impacts analyses for a 
          proposed regulation and required OAL to send specified 
          regulations to the fiscal committees in both houses of the 
          Legislature if they meet certain criteria.  This bill was held 
          in the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development 
          Committee.

          SB 959 (Ducheny) of 2010, recreated the Office of Permit 
          Assistance under the Governor's OPR in order to help facilitate 
          state and local level review of commercial and industrial 
          development projects.  This bill was vetoed by the Governor.

          AB 2351 (Committee on Ways and Means), Chapter 56, Statutes of 
          1993, merged or abolished 63 advisory boards to various state 
          agencies, boards and commissions, and crested a department of 
          permit assistance under the Trade and Commerce Agency.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support 
           








                                                                  SB 1520
                                                                  Page  5

          None on File.
           
            Opposition 
           
          None on File.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Elissa Silva / B.,P. & C.P. / (916) 
          319-3301