BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 110 (Steinberg) - California Transportation Commission
guidelines.
Amended: As introduced Policy Vote: T&H 11-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: April 15, 2013
Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 110 would establish procedures for the
California Transportation Commission (CTC) to follow when
adopting guidelines, and specify that CTC is exempt from the
rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)
when adopting guidelines.
Fiscal Impact: Potential costs in the range of $50,000 to
$70,000 (State Highway Account) related to CTC legal staff
review of new program guidelines or revisions to existing
program guidelines. Actual costs in any given year would depend
upon the number and complexity of guidelines up for review.
Background: The APA generally governs the procedures for the
adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies
and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of
Administrative Law. Administrative regulations are an extension
of statute and carry the weight of law, while guidelines are an
elaboration of policy and do not have the weight of law.
Typically guidelines are adopted through a relatively informal
process.
Proposed Law: This bill would require CTC to follow specified
procedures when adopting guidelines, except when adopting STIP
guidelines. Specifically, this bill would:
Require CTC's legal counsel to review proposed guidelines for
necessity, authority, clarity, consistency, reference, and
redundancy, and recommend proposed action. Counsel's
recommendations would be subject to attorney-client privilege.
Require guidelines to be presented at a CTC meeting for public
comment, and specify timelines for making the proposed
SB 110 (Steinberg)
Page 1
guidelines available for public comment.
Require CTC staff to review and summarize objections and
recommendations to those comments and explain any proposed
changes to the guidelines.
Require the staff recommendations to be made public prior to a
subsequent hearing, at which time the CTC would consider staff
recommendations and public comment prior to voting on the
adoption of the guidelines.
Require CTC to maintain guideline adoption files, as
specified, which would include CTC counsel's confirmation that
proposed guidelines are consistent with the procedures
established by this bill.
Require CTC to include in its annual report to the Legislature
an accounting of its activities related to guideline adoption
during the prior year.
Related Legislation: This bill is identical to SB 749
(Steinberg), which was approved by the Senate in 2012 but never
heard in the Assembly. A previous identical bill, SB 126
(Steinberg), was approved by the Senate in 2011 but subsequently
amended to deal with a different subject. In addition, SB 1348
(Steinberg), which was also identical to this bill, was vetoed
by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010. The veto message stated in
part that the "bill is unnecessary as it establishes a formal
process which is very similar to the process already used by the
CTC."
Staff Comments: SB 749 is intended to specify a more formal
process for CTC to follow when it adopts guidelines pursuant to
statutory requirements or authorization, which would provide
structure and transparency without invoking the more stringent
and time-consuming requirements of the APA.
CTC indicates that the bill could impose costs of $50,000 to
$70,000 per year for additional legal counsel review depending
on the number and complexity of program guidelines that would
need to be developed or revised for Commission adoption. These
costs would be incurred for review of any new program guidelines
or revisions to existing program guidelines in a given year.
Staff notes that the CTC does not anticipate proposing or
revising any program guidelines in the near future for which the
requirements of this bill would apply.
SB 110 (Steinberg)
Page 2