BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 376
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          Date of Hearing:   April 3, 2013

           ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
                                 Jim Frazier, Chair
                AB 376 (Donnelly) - As Introduced:  February 14, 2013
           
          SUBJECT  :   Regulations: Notice

           SUMMARY  :   Requires state agencies to notify businesses that are  
          required to comply with new regulations.   Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  requires a state agency that enforces a regulation  
          promulgated on or after January 1, 2014 to notify a business  
          that is mandated to comply with the regulation 30 days before  
          the regulation becomes effective.
           
          1)If possible, an agency shall provide notification by  
            electronic mail. If that is not possible, then the agency  
            shall mail a letter to notify the business.
          2)Agencies shall work with the Secretary of State to obtain  
            necessary business contact information to provide notice.    

           EXISTING LAW  The Office of Administrative Law (OAL) is  
          responsible for the official compilation, printing, and  
          publication of adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations,  
          which is known as the California Code of Regulations (CCR).  
          Government Code requires OAL to post the full text of the CCR on  
          its web site so that regulations can be accessed free of charge.

          SB 1099, which was approved in 2012, required agencies to post  
          newly-filed regulations on their websites. Additionally, the law  
          required agencies to provide OAL with the web addresses of these  
          postings. OAL maintains a page on its website that lets users  
          follow links to recently-filed regulations.       

           FISCAL EFFECT  :   Unknown

           COMMENTS  :   While OAL is responsible for providing free access  
          to the California Code of Regulations, there is not a  
          requirement to notify businesses of new regulations that apply  
          to them. The author stated that this bill aims to ease the  
          state's regulatory impact on businesses by providing the  
          notifications.

          State agencies would be required to notify businesses that would  
          be impacted by regulations promulgated on or after January 1,  








                                                                  AB 376
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          2014. The bill does not require state agencies to notify  
          businesses of existing regulations that apply to them.

          While the Secretary of State's Office has an online search of  
          business entities that include business addresses, it is unknown  
          how business types are classified within this system and if  
          state agencies will be able to easily access this information in  
          order to notify specific types of businesses of new regulations  
          that apply to them. 

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          None on file

           Opposition 
           
          California Labor Federation
          California Nurses Association
          Health Access California
          Sierra Club California

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Scott Herbstman / A. & A.R. / (916)  
          319-3600