SB 176, as amended, Galgiani. Administrative procedures.
Existing law governs the procedure 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, including procedures relating to increased public participation in the adoption, amendment, and repeal of these regulations. Existing law specifically requires a state agency proposing to adopt regulations, prior to publication of a notice of proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation, to involve parties who would be subject to the proposed regulations in public discussions regarding those proposed regulations, when the proposed regulations involve complex proposals or a large number of proposals that cannot easily be reviewed during the comment period. Existing law requires the office to provide for the publication of the California Regulatory Notice Register and to include specified information in the register, including notices of proposed action prepared by regulatory agencies, a summary of regulations filed with the Secretary of State, and a summary of regulation decisions issued, as specified.
This bill would require the office to allow electronic submission to the office by a state agency of notices required to be published and information required to be submitted pursuant to specified provisions of existing law. The bill would also expand the public discussion requirement described above to require a state agency proposing to adopt regulations, prior to publication of a notice of proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation, to involve parties that would be subject to the proposed regulations in public discussions regarding those proposed regulations, without regard to the complexity or number of proposals.
Existing law authorizes an agency that is considering adopting, amending, or repealing a regulation to consult with interested persons before initiating regulatory action.
This bill would instead require such an agency tobegin insert make a reasonable effort toend insert consult with interested personsbegin delete beforeend deletebegin insert who would be subject to the proposed regulation, or their representatives, prior toend insert initiating regulatory actionbegin insert, as providedend insert.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 11344.1 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:
The office shall do all of the following:
4(a) Provide for the publication of the California Regulatory
5Notice Register, which shall be an official publication of the State
6of California and which shall contain the following:
7(1) Notices of proposed action prepared by regulatory agencies,
8subject to the notice requirements of this chapter, and which have
9been approved by the office.
10(2) A summary of all regulations filed with the Secretary of
11State in the previous week.
12(3) Summaries of all
regulation decisions issued in the previous
13week detailing the reasons for disapproval of a regulation, the
14reasons for not filing an emergency regulation, and the reasons for
15repealing an emergency regulation. The California Regulatory
P3 1Notice Register shall also include a quarterly index of regulation
2decisions.
3(4) Material that is required to be published under Sections
411349.5, 11349.7, and 11349.9.
5(5) Determinations issued pursuant to Section 11340.5.
6(b) Establish the publication dates and manner and form in
7which the California Regulatory Notice Register shall be prepared
8and published and ensure that it is published and distributed in a
9timely manner to the presiding officer and rules committee of each
10house
of the Legislature and to all subscribers.
11(c) Post on its Internet Web site, on a weekly basis:
12(1) The California Regulatory Notice Register. Each issue of
13the California Regulatory Notice Register on the office’s Internet
14Web site shall remain posted for a minimum of 18 months.
15(2) One or more Internet links to assist the public to gain access
16to the text of regulations proposed by state agencies.
17(d) Permit a state agency to submit to the office as an electronic
18communication, as defined in Section 11340.85, a notice required
19to be published pursuant to subdivision (a) and Section 11346.4,
20and the information required to be submitted to the office pursuant
21to
Sections 11346.2, 11346.9, and 11347.3.
Section 11346 of the Government Code is amended
23to read:
(a) It is the purpose of this chapter to establish basic
25minimum procedural requirements for the adoption, amendment,
26or repeal of administrative regulations. Except as provided in
27Section 11346.1, the provisions of this chapter are applicable to
28the exercise of any quasi-legislative power conferred by any statute
29heretofore or hereafter enacted, but nothing in this chapter repeals
30or diminishes additional requirements imposed by any statute. This
31chapter shall not be superseded or modified by any subsequent
32legislation except to the extent that the legislation shall do so
33expressly.
34(b) begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insert(A)end insertbegin insert end insert An agency that is considering adopting, amending,
35or repealing a regulation shallbegin insert make a reasonable effort toend insert consult
36with interested personsbegin delete beforeend deletebegin insert who would be subject to the
37proposed regulation, or their representatives, priorend insert initiating
38regulatory action pursuant to this article.
P4 1(B) An agency shall include in its rulemaking record a list of
2interested persons, or their
representatives, who were consulted
3pursuant to subparagraph (A).
4(2) If an agency does not or cannot comply with paragraph (1),
5it shall state the reasons for noncompliance with reasonable
6specificity in the rulemaking record.
Section 11346.45 of the Government Code is amended
8to read:
(a) In order to increase public participation and
10improve the quality of regulations, a state agency proposing to
11adopt regulations, prior to publication of the notice required by
12Section 11346.5, shall involve parties that would be subject to the
13proposed regulations in public discussions regarding those
14proposed regulations.
15(b) This section does not apply to a state agency in any instance
16where that state agency is required to implement federal law and
17regulations for which there is little or no discretion on the part of
18the state to vary.
19(c) If the agency does not or cannot
comply with subdivision
20(a), it shall state the reasons for noncompliance with reasonable
21specificity in the rulemaking record.
22(d) This section shall not be subject to judicial review or to
23Section 11349.1.
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