BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1949
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 1949 (Logue) - As Amended: April 5, 2010
SUBJECT : Regulations: 5-year review and report.
SUMMARY : Requires a state agency to review and report on
regulations that it adopts or amends on and after January 1,
2011, five years after adoption, as specified. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires a state agency to review and report on all
regulations it adopts or amends on and after January 1, 2011.
2)Requires a state agency to complete the review and report and
submit it to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) on or
before May 1 immediately following five years after the date
the regulation was adopted or amended.
3)Requires OAL to make the report available on their Internet
Web site.
4)Requires that the review and report include all of the
following:
a) The general and specific statutes authorizing the
regulation;
b) The objective of the regulation;
c) The effectiveness of the regulation in achieving the
objective;
d) The consistency of the regulation with state and federal
statues and regulations and a listing of the statutes or
regulations used in determining the consistency;
e) The agency enforcement policy, including whether the
regulation is currently being enforced and, if so, whether
there are any problems with enforcement;
f) The agency view regarding current wisdom of the
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regulation;
g) The clarity, conciseness, and understandability of the
regulation;
h) A summary of the written criticisms of the regulation
received by the agency within the five year immediately
preceding the five-year review report, including letters,
memoranda, reports, and written allegations made in
litigation or administrative proceedings, to which the
agency was a party, expressing that the regulation is
discriminatory, unfair, unclear, inconsistent with statute,
or beyond the authority of the agency to enact, and the
result of the litigation or administrative proceedings;
i) The estimated economic, small business, and consumer impact
of the regulation as compared to the economic, small
business, and consumer impact statement prepared on the
last making of the regulation, or, if no economic, small
business, and consumer impact statement was prepared on the
last making of the rule, an assessment of the actual
economic, small business, and consumer impact of the
regulation; and,
j) The course of action the agency proposes to take regarding
each regulation, including the month and ear in which the
agency anticipates submitting the rules to OAL if the
agency determines it is necessary to amend or repeal an
existing rule, or to make a new rule.
EXISTING LAW establishes the requirements for the adoption,
publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state
agencies, under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office,
"California businesses are facing severe hardships as they have
been hit by one of the worst economies since the Great
Depression. Their overwhelming cry has been to ease regulations
and make compliance less complex. The intent of this bill is to
answer that cry. We must make doing business in California
easier, and bring those jobs back to our state."
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Background . The APA governs the adoption of regulations by
state agencies for purposes of ensuring that they 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 with a supporting statement of reasons;
mailing and publishing a notice of the proposed action 45 days
before a hearing or before the close of the public comment
period; and submitting a final statement to OAL which summarizes
and responds to all objections, recommendations, and proposed
alternatives that were raised during the public comment period.
The OAL is then required to approve or reject the proposed
regulation within 30 days.
More specifically, the APA requires state agencies proposing to
adopt, amend, or repeal any administrative regulation to assess
the potential for adverse economic impact on California business
enterprises and individuals, and avoid imposing unnecessary or
unreasonable regulations. Agencies are required to consider the
proposal's impact on business, with consideration of industries
affected including the ability of California businesses to
compete with businesses in other states. Additionally, agencies
are required to assess whether and to what extent the proposed
regulation change will affect the creation or elimination of
jobs, the creation of new businesses or the elimination of
existing businesses, and the expansion of businesses currently
doing business within California.
This bill requires a state agency to review and report on
regulations that it adopts or amends on and after January 1,
2011, five years after adoption, as specified.
Related legislation . AB 1833 (Logue) of 2010, requires CalEPA,
DOSH and ARB to complete an economic impact analysis prior to
adopting, amending, or repealing an administrative regulation.
Previous legislation . AB 2118 (Villines) of 2008 prohibited
state agencies from adopting regulations requiring the use of a
specific technology unless it has been operational and proven
effective for more than two years, or would place an undue
burden on business on an annual basis and result in a
significant loss of jobs. The bill was held in the Assembly
Business and Professions Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
California Conference Board of the Amalgamated Transit Union
California Conference of Machinists
United Food and Commercial Workers Region 8 State Council
UNITE-HERE!
Engineers and Scientists of California, IFPTE Local 20
Professional and technical Engineers, IFPTE Local 21
International Longshore and Warehouse Union
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301