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.
AB 1868
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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.
AB 1868
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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