BILL ANALYSIS Ó
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de León, Chair
AB 12 (Cooley) - Administrative Procedure Act: standardized
regulatory impact analyses.
Amended: May 24, 2013 Policy Vote: GO 11-0, EQ 9-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 30, 2013
Consultant: Brendan McCarthy
SUSPENSE FILE.
Bill Summary: AB 12 would require the Department of Finance to
annually review standardized regulatory analyses prepared by
state agencies for adherence to state regulations.
Fiscal Impact:
Ongoing costs likely to be about $75,000 per year for the
Department of Finance to review standardized regulatory
analyses (General Fund). Given the anticipated workload
(generally 5 - 10 qualifying analyses per year), staff
believes the Department will likely need a partial position
for these reviews. In some years, depending on workload and
the complexity of the analysis, the Department may need
additional, outside consultant services, at additional cost.
Background: Under the Administrative Procedure Act, state
agencies are generally required to adopt rules or guidelines as
regulations, with specific procedures and analyses that must be
undertaken by the state agency in that process. For example,
current law requires state agencies proposing to adopt a
regulation to assess the potential for adverse economic impacts
due to the regulation.
By November 1, 2013, the Department of Finance and the Office of
Administrative Law are required to adopt regulations to guide
other state agencies in conducting standardized regulatory
impact analyses of proposed major regulations. (Major
regulations are those with an anticipated impact of the state
economy of more than $50 million.) The intent of this
requirement is to improve the quality of the analysis of
potential impacts of proposed regulations, by standardizing
methods across state agencies.
AB 12 (Cooley)
Page 1
Current law requires the Department of Finance and the Office of
Administrative Law to periodically review completed standardized
regulatory impact analyses prepared by state agencies, to ensure
that they are complying with the regulations to be adopted by
the Department of Finance.
Proposed Law: AB 12 would require the Department of Finance to
annually review standardized regulatory analyses for adherence
to state regulations.
The bill would require the Office of Administrative Law to
report to the Legislature regarding whether the standardized
regulatory impact analyses conform to regulations.
Related Legislation: AB 617 (Calderon and Pavley, Statutes of
2011) created the requirement that the Department of Finance
adopt regulations to require standardized regulatory impact
analysis.