BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
SB 401 (Hueso) - Administrative practices: impact of building
standards.
Amended: April 8, 2013 Policy Vote: T&H 11-0
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: May 20, 2013 Consultant: Mark McKenzie
This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the
Suspense File.
Bill Summary: SB 401 would require the initial statement of
reasons for building standards regulations proposed by state
agencies to include the estimated cost of compliance, estimated
potential benefits, and related assumptions.
Fiscal Impact:
Potential costs to the Building Standards Commission (CBC)
of up to $89,000 annually for estimating impacts and
underlying assumptions for all building standards, and for
sections of the model codes upon request (Building Standards
Administration Special Revolving Fund).
Minor costs to other state agencies who propose building
standards regulations (General Fund, various special funds).
Background: Under the Administrative Procedures Act, state
agencies adopting regulations, including those related to
building standards, must conduct certain analyses of the impacts
of the proposed regulation and follow specific procedures for
allowing public input and review of the proposed regulation. In
particular, state agencies are required to analyze the potential
impact of a proposed regulation on businesses or job creation in
the state and potential financial impacts on state agencies. At
certain steps in the process for adopting regulations, this
information must be made available to the Office of
Administrative Law and the public.
Existing law requires state agencies adopting building standards
that impact housing to include estimated benefits and costs of
compliance, as well as underlying assumptions, in an initial
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statement of reasons. Model codes proposed by national
code-writing entities and adopted into the Building Standards
Code are exempt from this requirement, unless a request is made
with respect to a particular section.
Proposed Law: SB 401 would require state agencies, when adopting
any building standards regulations, to disclose specified
information on the costs of compliance, potential benefits of
the regulation, and related assumptions used to perform the
economic analysis. For model codes proposed by national
code-writing entities that are added to the Building Standards
Code, these requirements would not be necessary, unless a
request is made with respect to a particular model code.
Related Legislation: AB 1612 (Lara), Chap 471/2012, required
state agencies adopting building standards that impact housing
to include estimated benefits and costs of compliance, as well
as underlying assumptions, in an initial statement of reasons.
Staff Comments: Staff notes that state agencies adopting
building standards regulations must complete an Economic and
Fiscal Impact Statement, otherwise known as a "399 form," with
an initial statement of reasons. The 399 form includes private
sector cost impacts, estimated costs and benefits, alternatives
to the regulation, the fiscal impacts the regulation would have
on local, state, and federal government, and the fiscal effect
on federal funding of state programs. The 399 form also must
include calculations and assumptions in the rulemaking record.
The Building Standards Commission indicates that the bill would
have a significant impact on the Commission, and require an
additional PY of staff at a cost of $89,000, as a result of the
requirements to include the estimated cost of compliance,
potential benefits, and related assumptions used for every
building standard. Staff notes, however, that it appears that
all of these requirements are addressed in the 399 form that
must be completed and entered into the rulemaking record as part
of an initial statement of reasons for adopting a building
standards regulation. Costs related to completing this level of
analysis on sections of the model codes adopted by agencies are
unknown.
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