BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                    AB 1868


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          Date of Hearing:  April 27, 2016


                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS


                               Lorena Gonzalez, Chair


          AB  
          1868 (Wagner) - As Introduced February 10, 2016


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          |Policy       |Accountability and             |Vote:|9 - 0        |
          |Committee:   |Administrative Review          |     |             |
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          Urgency:  No  State Mandated Local Program:  NoReimbursable:  No


          SUMMARY:


          This bill would additionally require state agencies to submit a  
          notice of proposed regulatory action (proposed action) to the  
          Legislature at least 45 days prior to the hearing and close of  
          the public comment period if the proposed action includes an  
          economic impact, cost impact, statement or finding, as  
          specified. 










                                                                    AB 1868


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          FISCAL EFFECT:


          1)Unknown, but likely minor costs to state agencies (various  
            funds) to submit copies of notices of proposed actions to the  
            Legislature. There are currently over 200 state agencies and  
            departments with nearly 53,000 active regulations. As written,  
            the bill would require notices to be sent on all or nearly all  
            proposed actions. In 2015, Office of Administrative Law (OAL)  
            received over 400 notices of proposed actions.


          2)Minor and absorbable costs to OAL to amend regulations to  
            include the new requirements in the self-certification  
            document.


          COMMENTS:


          1)Purpose. According to the author, "This bill would ensure that  
            the executive branch is kept in check, as it enforces the laws  
            that the Legislature creates, and would bring the Legislature  
            into its proper role of oversight of the executive branch." 


          2)Background. The Administrative Procedures Act (APA) requires  
            the Office of Administrative Law to ensure that state agency  
            regulations are clear, necessary, legally valid, and available  
            to the public.  In seeking adoption of a proposed regulation,  
            state agencies must comply with procedural requirements that  
            include publishing the proposed regulation along with a  
            supporting statement of reasons, mailing and publishing a  
            notice of the proposed action 45 days before a hearing and  
            before the close of the public comment period, and submitting  
            a final statement to OAL that summarizes and responds to all  
            objections, recommendations and proposed alternatives raised  
            during the public comment period.  The OAL is then required to  
            approve or reject the proposed regulation within 30 days.








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            This bill, in addition to the existing notification  
            requirements, requires state agencies to submit notices to the  
            Legislature in the same manner they are required to submit  
            reports to the Legislature - a printed copy to the Secretary  
            of the Senate, an electronic copy to the Chief Clerk of the  
            Assembly and either an electronic or printed copy to the  
            Legislative Counsel.  In addition, an electronic copy of a  
            summary of each document must be submitted directly to each  
            member of the Legislature. As noted above, in 2015, OAL  
            received over 400 notices of proposed actions. 


          3)Need for the bill. Proposed actions are already available  
            publicly and mechanisms exist for those interested in  
            receiving them to do so under current law. Individuals,  
            including Legislators, with an interest in a particular area  
            can sign up to receive proposed actions in one or more  
            programs of a state agency. Additionally, agencies are  
            required to provide these documents to representatives of  
            affected groups and publish them in the California Regulatory  
            Notice Register (CRNR).  The OAL publishes the CRNR on its  
            website every Friday. The Committee may wish to consider  
            whether another avenue of communication is necessary and  
            justified. 


          4)Prior Legislation.  


          


             a)   AB 797 (Steinorth), 2015, would have required a copy of  
               each major regulation submitted to the Secretary of State  
               (SOS) by the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to also be  
               submitted to the appropriate Legislative policy committees  
               responsible for the subject matter of the regulation for  
               review. It passed off the Assembly Floor but was never  
               heard in the Senate.








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             b)   AB 12 (Cooley), 2015, would have required state agencies  
               and departments to review, adopt, amend or repeal any  
               applicable regulations that are duplicative, overlapping,  
               inconsistent, or out of date by January 1, 2018. As part of  
               this process, state agencies and departments would have  
               been required to notify the appropriate policy and fiscal  
               committees of the Legislature of the proposed revisions and  
               report to the Governor and the Legislature. It was held on  
               the Senate Appropriations Committee's suspense file.
          





          Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081