BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1585
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Date of Hearing: August 27, 2009
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Kevin De Leon, Chair
AB 1585 (Accountability and Admin Overview) - As Introduced:
July 9, 2009
Policy Committee: Business and
Professions Vote: 10 - 0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill revises the procedure for mandatory and voluntary
reporting requirements and deletes obsolete reports.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LC) to refer a
requester of an agency report to the California State Library
as the final repository of public information.
2)Requires bills introduced or amended in either house of the
Legislature requiring a state agency to submit a report on any
subject to either house of the Legislature or LC to include a
provision repealing or making inoperative the reporting
requirement no later than a date four years following the date
upon which bill is in enacted, commencing on and after January
1, 2010, as specified.
3)Requires LC, in drafting a bill for introduction or amendments
imposing a reporting requirement to include a provision that
repeals or makes obsolete the reporting requirement, four
years after the date on which the requirement becomes
operative, unless the person requesting the bill or amendment
directs LC to do otherwise, as specified.
4)Requires LC to maintain and update an electronic list of all
reports that state and local agencies are required to prepare
and file with the governor or Legislature, removing obsolete
or duplicate reports from the list, and as directed by this
bill, or a subsequent statute that further requires LC to
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remove reports included in the list.
5)States that the requirement to delete a report pursuant to this
bill shall not prohibit LC from including the report on a
future publication of the list, if the report is required by
law to be listed.
6)Requires LC to eliminate certain reports from the current list of
required reports.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Minor, absorbable costs for the workload associated with LC
updating the current list and flagging future listings with a
4-year sunset date.
2)The majority of the reports listed in the bill are obsolete or
are not being produced by the departments, therefore any
savings associated with this legislation will likely be minor.
To the extent any of the reports on this listed are currently
being produced however, there could be minor GF or special
fund workload savings for the affected departments.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . This bill, authored by the Assembly Committee on
Accountability and Administrative Review (Committee), revises
the method for receiving and cataloging mandated and voluntary
reports by LC and deletes more than 1,200 obsolete reporting
requirements from the list of reports maintained by LC. More
than 160 governmental entities, spanning from agencies,
commissions, and boards, are included in this bill. This bill
is a result of a hearing held by the Committee in February of
2009, examining reporting requirements of state agencies and
compliance in fulfilling those requirements.
2)Background . A website is maintained by LC pursuant to the
requirements of Section 10242.5 of the Government Code which
named LC as the repository for all legislative reports.
Section 9795 of the Government Code requires state and local
agencies to submit reports to LC, the Secretary of the Senate,
and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly. To fulfill this
requirement, agencies send hard copies or electronic copies of
reports to LC.
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When a report is received by the LC, the title, date received
and an URL for the report (if provided by the agency) are
entered on the Agency Reports Web site. Hard copies of
reports are then sent to the Government Publications Section
of the State Library for cataloging and retention. Electronic
copies are sent via email to the Government Publications
Section of the State Library where they are printed, cataloged
and retained.
Each report must include a one-page summary of its contents,
which LC is required to distribute to each member of the
appropriate house of the Legislature within two working days
of its receipt. Notice of receipt shall also be recorded in
the journal of the appropriate house.
The Web site (http://www.agencyreports.ca.gov/) contains a
list of all reports that state and local agencies are required
or requested by law to prepare and file with the governor, the
Legislature, or both, in the future or within the preceding
year.
LC staff review chaptered bills, ballot propositions passed at
elections, and the Legislative Analyst's Supplemental Report
of the Budget to determine new report requirements and changes
to report requirements. The Web site is updated accordingly.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081