BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1957
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Date of Hearing: April 6, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONS
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 1957 (Silva) - As Introduced: February 17, 2010
SUBJECT : Administrative Procedure Act: notice of proposed
actions: local government agencies.
SUMMARY : Requires state agencies to mail a notice of a
proposed action to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to local
government agencies, as specified. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires state agencies, when providing notice of proposed
adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation, to mail the
notice to local government agencies or local government agency
representatives that the agency believes may be interested in,
or impacted by, the proposed action.
2)States that a "local government agency representative" shall
include, but not be limited to, the following:
a) Countywide elected officials whose departments would be
impacted by a proposed action;
b) County administrators or executive offices of a county whose
operations may be impacted by a proposed action;
c) City manager of a city whose operations may be impacted
by a proposed action; and,
d) General managers of a special district whose operations may
be impacted by a proposed action.
3)Requires the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to create,
maintain, and make available to a requesting agency, a
notification list of local government agency representatives.
4)Requires the notification list to be comprised of information
requested from, and submitted by, the appropriate statewide
associations representing the local government agencies;
including, but not limited to:
a) The California State Association of Counties;
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b) The County Auditors Association of California;
c) The California Assessors Association;
d) The County Recorders Association of California;
e) The California District Attorneys Association;
f) California State Sheriffs Association;
g) California Association of Public Administrators, Public
Guardians, and Public Conservators;
h) California Association of County Treasurers and Tax
Collectors;
i) The League of California Cities;
j) The California Special Districts Association; and,
aa) The California County Superintendents Education
Services Association.
EXISTING LAW establishes requirements for the adoption,
publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state
agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by OAL,
under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
Purpose of this bill . According to the author's office, "It is
reasonable to expect state government to communicate with local
government when they propose rule changes impacting those local
entities. Unfortunately, there is anecdotal evidence of state
agencies providing insufficient notification of proposed
regulatory modifications. In one instance in particular, cities
were 'notified' of a proposal by a single e-mail to the League
of California Cities and special districts were 'notified' by a
single e-mail to the California Special District Association.
As a result, most jurisdictions across the state were unaware
that the minimum 45-day comment period on regulations was
nearing expiration. This occasion proved especially significant
because it demanded a large monetary expenditure of a specific
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local government agency."
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 along with 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 to mail the
proposed regulations to any person or group of persons whom the
agency believes to be interested in the proposed action,
including representatives of small business enterprises, though
the APA does not specifically address local governments in its
requirements.
Related legislation . AB 1833 (Logue) of 2010 requires the
California Environmental Protection Agency, the Division of
Occupational Safety and Health and the State Air Resources Board
to complete an economic impact analysis prior to adopting,
amending, or repealing an administrative regulation.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Orange County Board of Supervisors (sponsor)
Association of California Water Agencies
California Association of Sanitation Agencies
California Special Districts Association
California State Association of Counties
County Recorders Association of California
League of California Cities
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
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California Labor Federation
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301