BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1520 Page 1 Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Felipe Fuentes, Chair SB 1520 (Calderon) - As Amended: May 30, 2012 Policy Committee: Business and Professions Vote: 9 - 0 Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: SUMMARY This bill 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. 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. FISCAL EFFECT On-going costs, likely in the range of $200,000 to $400,000 GF, for the additional workload associated with providing permit assistance. Those costs may be partially offset with a fee. COMMENTS SB 1520 Page 2 1)Purpose . The author states that 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. 2)Background . In the 1980s through the early 2000s, the state 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when the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency was abolished, the state's permit assistance responsibilities were repealed (AB 1757, Committee on Budget) Chapter 229, Statutes of 2003. 3)Related Legislation . There have been several attempts to reestablish a different version of an Office of Permit Assistance within OPR, including SB 959 (Ducheny) 2010, which was vetoed and AB 49 (Gatto) 2011 and AB 1549 (Gatto) 2011, which were both held by this committee. Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916) 319-2081