BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 1868 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 27, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 1868 (Wagner) - As Introduced February 10, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Accountability and |Vote:|9 - 0 | |Committee: |Administrative Review | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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 Page 2 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 Page 3 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 Page 4 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