Amended in Assembly April 22, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 12

Introduced by Assembly Member Cooley

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(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chang, Daly, and Wilk)

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December 1, 2014

An act begin delete to amend Section 11349.1.5 of, and end delete to add and repeal Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 11366) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 begin delete of, end delete begin insert of end insert the Government Code, relating to state agency regulations.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 12, as amended, Cooley. State government: administrative regulations: review.

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(1) Existing

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begin insert Existing end insert law authorizes various state entities to adopt, amend, or repeal regulations for various specified purposes. The Administrative Procedure Act requires the Office of Administrative Law and a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to review the proposed changes for, among other things, consistency with existing state regulations.

This bill would, until January 1, 2019, require each state agency to, on or before January 1, 2018, begin delete and after a noticed public hearing, review and revise that agency’s regulations to eliminate any inconsistencies, overlaps, or outdated provisions in the regulations, adopt the revisions as emergency regulations, end delete begin insert review that agency’s regulations, identify any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, to revise those identified regulations, as provided, end insert and report to the Legislature and Governor, as specified. begin delete The bill would further require each agency to, on or before January 1, 2017, compile an overview of the statutory law that agency administers. end delete

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(2) The act requires a state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a major regulation, as defined, to prepare a standardized regulatory impact analysis of the proposed change. The act requires the office and the Department of Finance to, from time to time, review the analyses for compliance with specific department regulations. The act further requires the office to, on or before November 1, 2015, submit a report on the analyses to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Governmental Organization, as specified.

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This bill would instead require the office and department to annually review the analyses. The bill would also require the office to annually submit a report on the analyses to the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization and the Assembly Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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SECTION 1.  

Section 11349.1.5 of the Government Code is
amended to read:

11349.1.5.  

(a) The Department of Finance and the office shall
annually review the standardized regulatory impact analyses
required by subdivision (c) of Section 11346.3 and submitted to
the office pursuant to Section 11347.3, for adherence to the
regulations adopted by the department pursuant to Section
11346.36.

(b) (1) On or before November 1, 2015, and annually thereafter,
the office shall submit to the Senate Committee on Governmental
Organization and the Assembly Committee on Accountability and
Administrative Review a report describing the extent to which
submitted standardized regulatory impact analyses for proposed
major regulations for the fiscal year ending in June 30, of that year
adhere to the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 11346.36.
The report shall include a discussion of agency adherence to the
regulations as well as a comparison between various state agencies
on the question of adherence. The report shall also include any
recommendations from the office for actions the Legislature might
consider for improving state agency performance and compliance
in the creation of the standardized regulatory impact analyses as
described in Section 11346.3.

(2) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section
9795 of the Government Code.

(c) In addition to the annual report required by subdivision (b),
the office shall notify the Legislature of noncompliance by a state
agency with the regulations adopted pursuant to Section 11346.36,
in any manner or form determined by the office and shall post the
report and notice of noncompliance on the office’s Internet Web
site.

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begin delete SEC. 2. end delete
begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 11366)
is added to Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code,
to read:

 

Chapter  3.6. Regulatory Reform

 

Article 1.  Findings and Declarations

 

11366.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340), Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11370),
Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11400), and Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 11500)) requires agencies and the
Office of Administrative Law to review regulations to ensure their
consistency with law and to consider impacts on the state’s
economy and businesses, including small businesses.

(b) However, the act does not require agencies to individually
review their regulations to identify overlapping, inconsistent,
duplicative, or out-of-date regulations that may exist.

(c) At a time when the state’s economy is slowly recovering,
unemployment and underemployment continue to affect all
Californians, especially older workers and younger workers who
received college degrees in the last seven years but are still awaiting
their first great job, and with state government improving but in
need of continued fiscal discipline, it is important that state
agencies systematically undertake to identify, publicly review, and
eliminate overlapping, inconsistent, duplicative, or out-of-date
regulations, both to ensure they more efficiently implement and
enforce laws and to reduce unnecessary and outdated rules and
regulations.

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(d) The purpose of this chapter is to require each agency to
compile an overview of the statutory law that agency oversees or
administers in its regulatory activity that includes a synopsis of
key programs, when each key program was authorized or instituted,
and any emerging challenges the agency is encountering with
respect to those programs.

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Article 2.  Definitions

 

11366.1.  

For the begin delete purpose end delete begin insert purposes end insert of this chapter, the following
definitions shall apply:

(a) “State agency” means a state agency, as defined in Section
11000, except those state agencies or activities described in Section
11340.9.

(b) “Regulation” has the same meaning as provided in Section
11342.600.

 

Article 3.  State Agency Duties

 

11366.2.  

On or before January 1, 2018, each state agency shall
do all of the following:

(a) Review all provisions of the California Code of Regulations
applicable to, or adopted by, that state agency.

(b) Identify any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping,
inconsistent, or out of date.

(c) Adopt, amend, or repeal regulations to reconcile or eliminate
any duplication, overlap, inconsistencies, or out-of-date begin delete provisions. end delete
begin insert provisions, and shall comply with the process specified in Article
5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5, unless the
addition, revision, or deletion is without regulatory effect and may
be done pursuant to Section 100 of Title 1 of the California Code
of Regulations. end insert

(d) Hold at least one noticed public hearing, that shall be noticed
on the Internet Web site of the state agency, for the purposes of
accepting public comment on proposed revisions to its regulations.

(e) Notify the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of each
house of the Legislature of the revisions to regulations that the
state agency proposes to make at begin delete least 90 days prior to a noticed
public hearing pursuant to subdivision (d) and at least 90 days
prior to the proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of the
regulations pursuant to subdivision (f), for the purpose of allowing
those committees to review, and hold hearings on, the proposed
revisions to the regulations. end delete

begin delete (f) Adopt as emergency regulations, consistent with Section
11346.1, those changes, as provided for in subdivision (c), to a
regulation identified by the state agency as duplicative,
overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date. end delete begin insert least 30 days prior to
initiating the process under Article 5 (commencing with Section
11346) of Chapter 3.5 or Section 100 of Title 1 of the California
Code of Regulations. end insert

(g) (1) Report to the Governor and the Legislature on the state
agency’s compliance with this chapter, including the number and
content of regulations the state agency identifies as duplicative,
overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, and the state agency’s
actions to address those regulations.

(2) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section
9795 of the Government Code.

11366.3.  

(a) On or before January 1, 2018, each agency listed
in Section 12800 shall notify a department, board, or other unit
within that agency of any existing regulations adopted by that
department, board, or other unit that the agency has determined
may be duplicative, overlapping, or inconsistent with a regulation
adopted by another department, board, or other unit within that
agency.

(b) A department, board, or other unit within an agency shall
notify that agency of revisions to regulations that it proposes to
make at least 90 days prior to a noticed public hearing pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 11366.2 and at least 90 days prior to
adoption, amendment, or repeal of the regulations pursuant to
begin delete subdivision (f) of end delete begin insert subdivision (c) of end insert Section 11366.2. The agency
shall review the proposed regulations and make recommendations
to the department, board, or other unit within 30 days of receiving
the notification regarding any duplicative, overlapping, or
inconsistent regulation of another department, board, or other unit
within the agency.

11366.4.  

An agency listed in Section 12800 shall notify a state
agency of any existing regulations adopted by that agency that
may duplicate, overlap, or be inconsistent with the state agency’s
regulations.

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11366.43.  

On or before January 1, 2017, each state agency
shall compile an overview of the statutory law that state agency
oversees or administers. The overview shall include a synopsis of
the state agency’s key programs, when each program was
authorized or instituted, when any statute authorizing a program
was significantly revised to alter, redirect, or extend the original
program and the reason for the revision, if known, and an
identification of any emerging challenges the state agency is
encountering with respect to the programs.

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11366.45.  

This chapter shall not be construed to weaken or
undermine in any manner any human health, public or worker
rights, public welfare, environmental, or other protection
established under statute. This chapter shall not be construed to
affect the authority or requirement for an agency to adopt
regulations as provided by statute. Rather, it is the intent of the
Legislature to ensure that state agencies focus more efficiently and
directly on their duties as prescribed by law so as to use scarce
public dollars more efficiently to implement the law, while
achieving equal or improved economic and public benefits.

 

Article 4.  Chapter Repeal

 

11366.5.  

This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
1, 2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
that date.