AB 12, as amended, Cooley. State government: administrative regulations: review.
Existing 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1, 2018, review that agency’s regulations, identify any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, to revise those identified regulations, as provided, and report to the Legislature and Governor, as specified.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 3.6 (commencing with Section 11366)
2is added to Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code,
3to read:
4
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
10(a) The Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing
11with Section 11340), Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 11370),
12Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11400), and Chapter 5
13(commencing with Section 11500)) requires agencies and the
14Office of Administrative Law to review regulations to ensure their
15consistency with law and to consider impacts on the state’s
16economy and businesses, including small businesses.
17(b) However, the act does not require agencies to individually
18review their regulations to identify overlapping, inconsistent,
19duplicative, or out-of-date
regulations that may exist.
20(c) At a time when the state’s economy is slowly recovering,
21unemployment and underemployment continue to affect all
22Californians, especially older workers and younger workers who
23received college degrees in the last seven years but are still awaiting
24their first great job, and with state government improving but in
25need of continued fiscal discipline, it is important that state
26agencies systematically undertake to identify, publicly review, and
27eliminate overlapping, inconsistent, duplicative, or out-of-date
28regulations, both to ensure they more efficiently implement and
29enforce laws and to reduce unnecessary and outdated rules and
30regulations.
31
For the purposes of this chapter, the following
35definitions shall apply:
36(a) “State agency” means a state agency, as defined in Section
3711000, except those state agencies or activities described in Section
3811340.9.
P3 1(b) “Regulation” has the same meaning as provided in Section
211342.600.
3
On or before January 1, 2018, each state agency shall
7do all of the following:
8(a) Review all provisions of the California Code of Regulations
9begin delete applicable to, or adopted by,end deletebegin insert adopted byend insert that state agency.
10(b) Identify any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping,
11inconsistent, or out of date.
12(c) Adopt, amend, or repeal regulations to reconcile or eliminate
13any duplication, overlap,
inconsistencies, or out-of-date
provisions,
14and shall comply with the process specified in Article 5
15(commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5, unless the
16addition, revision, or deletion is without regulatory effect and may
17be done pursuant to Section 100 of Title 1 of the California Code
18of Regulations.
19(d) Hold at least one noticed public hearing,begin delete thatend deletebegin insert whichend insert shall be
20noticed on the Internet Web site of the state agency, for the
21purposes of accepting public comment on proposed revisions to
22its regulations.
23(e) Notify the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of each
24house of the Legislature of the revisions to regulations
that the
25state agency proposes to make at least 30 days prior to initiating
26the process under Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of
27Chapter 3.5 or Section 100 of Title 1 of the California Code of
28Regulations.
29(g) (1) Report to the Governor and the Legislature on the state
30
agency’s compliance with this chapter, including the number and
31content of regulations the state agency identifies as duplicative,
32overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, and the state agency’s
33actions to address those regulations.
34(2) The report shall be submitted in compliance with Section
359795 of the Government Code.
(a) On or before January 1, 2018, each agency listed
37in Section 12800 shall notify a department, board, or other unit
38within that agency of any existing regulations adopted by that
39department, board, or other unit that the agency has determined
40may be duplicative, overlapping, or inconsistent with a regulation
P4 1adopted by another department, board, or other unit within that
2agency.
3(b) A department, board, or other unit within an agency shall
4notify that agency of revisions to regulations that it proposes to
5make at least 90 days prior to a noticed public hearing pursuant to
6subdivision (d) of Section 11366.2 and at least 90 days prior to
7adoption, amendment,
or repeal of the regulations pursuant to
8subdivision (c) of Section 11366.2. The agency shall review the
9proposed regulations and make recommendations to the
10department, board, or other unit within 30 days of receiving the
11notification regarding any duplicative, overlapping, or inconsistent
12regulation of another department, board, or other unit within the
13agency.
An agency listed in Section 12800 shall notify a state
15agency of any existing regulations adopted by that agency that
16may duplicate, overlap, or be inconsistent with the state agency’s
17regulations.
This chapter shall not be construed to weaken or
19undermine in any manner any human health, public or worker
20rights, public welfare, environmental, or other protection
21established under statute. This chapter shall not be construed to
22affect the authority or requirement for an agency to adopt
23regulations as provided by statute. Rather, it is the intent of the
24Legislature to ensure that state agencies focus more efficiently and
25directly on their duties as prescribed by law so as to use scarce
26public dollars more efficiently to implement the law, while
27achieving equal or improved economic and public benefits.
28
This chapter shall remain in effect only until January
321, 2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
33statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends
34that date.
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