BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 930|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
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|327-4478 | |
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 930
Author: Saldana (D)
Amended: 4/14/09 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE : 11-0, 7/8/09
AYES: Wright, Harman, Benoit, Calderon, Denham, Florez,
Negrete McLeod, Padilla, Price, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza, Wiggins
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/26/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Department of General Services: Administrative
Procedures
Act
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill provides that the State Administrative
Manual and the State Contracting Manual maintained by the
Department of General Services are exempt from the
Administrative Procedures Act for periods prior to January
1, 1999.
ANALYSIS : Existing law provides that commencing on
January 1, 1999, the State Administrative Manual (SAM) and
State Contracting Manual (SCM) are exempt from the
Administrative Procedures Act (APA).
Comments
CONTINUED
AB 930
Page
2
According to the author's office, "The APA was enacted on
January 1, 1999. However, it did not indicate that any
regulations acted upon by the DGS in the SAM and the SCM,
with respect to procurement, prior to that date held the
full force and effect of the law. There was no indication
that the APA was retroactive. This bill would simply
ensure that any actions taken by DGS [Department of General
Services] prior to that date had the full force and effect
of the law stated in the APA."
According to the Bureau of State Audits (BSA) Reports
(2007-111 and 2008-701), state law typically requires
provisions that are regulations, such as many of those in
the SAM and SCM, to be approved under the APA. However, SB
1645 (Mountjoy), Chapter 731, Statutes of 1998, exempted
the SAM and SCM from the APA, in response to an appellate
court opinion finding that a provision of the SAM was
invalid because it was an underground regulation.
BSA Report 2007-111 of the Department of the California
Highway Patrol's (CHP) contract purchases concluded that
the CHP did not sufficiently explain in its justification
why the price offered under the contract was fair and
reasonable, even though the SCM requires a justification.
The BSA report states that if certain provisions in the SAM
and SCM pertaining to competitive bidding are regulations
having the force and effect of law, an argument could be
made that failure to comply with those provisions would
result in a contract becoming void. The BSA's legal
counsel opined that since SB 1645 was enacted, no court has
definitively found that the provisions of the SAM and SCM
relating to competitive bidding are regulations having the
force and effect of law. The BSA recommended in its report
that clarification in statute that SAM and SCM provisions
have the force and effect of law.
Prior/related legislation . SB 1645 (Mountjoy), Chapter
731, Statutes of 1998, exempts the SAM and SCM from the
APA, as of January 1, 1999.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
AB 930
Page
3
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada
NO VOTE RECORDED: Duvall, Bass
TSM:mw 7/9/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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