BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 12
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
Rudy Salas, Chair
AB 12
(Cooley) - As Amended April 22, 2015
SUBJECT: State government: administrative regulations: review
SUMMARY: Requires state agencies and departments to review,
adopt, amend or repeal any applicable regulations that are
duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires state agencies, on or before January 1, 2018, to
adopt, amend or repeal, using procedures provided in current
law, those regulations identified as duplicative, overlapping,
inconsistent or out of date.
2)Requires state agencies to hold public hearings, notice on the
Internet and accept public comment, as specified.
3)Requires state agencies to notify the appropriate policy and
fiscal committees of the Legislature of the proposed revisions
to regulations.
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4)Requires state agencies to report to the Governor and the
Legislature the number and content of the regulations
identified as duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent or out of
date.
5)Requires specified agencies to identify any existing
regulations of a department, board, or other unit within that
agency that are duplicative, overlapping or inconsistent with
regulations of other departments, boards or units within that
agency.
6)Requires the provisions of this bill remain in effect only
until January 1, 2019, unless later statute is enacted that
deletes or extends that date.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA),
basic minimum procedural requirements for the adoption,
amendment, or repeal of administrative regulations.
2)Permits an agency, subject to the approval of the Office of
Administrative Law (OAL), to add to, revise or delete text
published in the California Code of Regulations (CCR) without
complying with the rulemaking procedures specified in the APA
only if the change does not materially alter any requirement,
right, responsibility, condition, prescription or other
regulatory element of any CCR provision.
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: In October of 2011, the Little Hoover Commission
(LHC) published a report titled, Better Regulation: Improving
California's Rulemaking Process. The LHC included several
recommendations for improving the state's rulemaking process,
including that the state should establish a look-back mechanism
to determine if regulations are still needed and whether or not
they work.
The author's approach to this "look-back mechanism" is to create
a two-year window within which agencies, and the departments,
boards and other units within them, must review all regulations
that pertain to the mission and programs under their statutory
authority. Upon completion of this review, the identified
regulations that are deemed to be duplicative, overlapping,
inconsistent or out of date may be repealed using the existing
processes already provided in the APA. This bill also allows
for public hearings and comment and requires regulatory changes
be reported to the Legislature and the Governor.
The provisions of this bill sunset on January 1, 2019, making
the regulatory review, as outlined in this bill, a one-time
application. Under current law, any state agency may review,
adopt, amend or repeal any regulation within its statutory
authority at any time. The OAL reports that as of December 26,
2014, (Register 2014, No. 52) the number of regulations adopted
totaled 67,176. Of those, state agencies had repealed 14,319,
leaving 52,857 regulations still active. This represents a
repeal rate of just over 21%.
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Whether this 21% regulatory repeal rate is robust enough remains
a question. Both the LHC and the author believe more needs to
be done. The author states, "?numerous economists and business
leaders agree that one of the greatest obstacles to California
job growth is the 'thicket' of government regulations that
constrain business owners." The author's bill recognizes that
state agencies "may" review their regulatory framework at any
time, but specifies that state agencies "shall" review their
regulatory framework within the two-year timeframe as provided.
Finally, this bill contains language stating it is not meant to
weaken or undermine established statute, or to affect the
authority state agencies have to promulgate regulations. A
January 1, 2019, sunset date will ensure no long-term changes to
current APA requirements.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Associated Builders and Contractors of California
Building Owners and Managers Association of California
California Apartment Association
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California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Association of Bed and Breakfast Inns
California Building Industry Association
California Business Properties Association
California Business Roundtable
California Chamber of Commerce
California Construction and Industrial Materials Association
California Hotel and Lodging Association
California League of Food Processors
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
California Retailers Association
Central Coast Forest Association
Commercial Real Estate Development Association, NAIOP of Calif.
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Consumer Specialty Products Association
Industrial Environmental Association
International Council of Shopping Centers
National Federation of Independent Business/California
Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce
Small Business California
USANA Health Sciences, Inc.
Western States Petroleum Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:William Herms / A. & A.R. / (916) 319-3600
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