BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2738
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 5, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                AB 2738 (Niello) - As Introduced:  February 19, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Business and  
          Professions  Vote:                            10 - 1 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires a state agency, when submitting proposed  
          regulations to the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to:

          1)Identify and describe specific elements of the regulation that  
            may require the use of specific technologies, equipment,  
            actions or procedures that may require a proprietary  
            compliance scheme, methodology, or process.

          2)Provide justification for departing from the acknowledged  
            preference of imposing performance standards and provide an  
            explanation as to why certain technologies, equipment,  
            actions, or procedures are required, in lieu of a performance  
            standard.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)The workload for the OAL would be minor and absorbable within  
            existing resources. 

          2)State agencies are currently required to justify their  
            proposed regulations using a detailed and deliberative  
            process. To the extent this legislation requires agencies to  
            be more descriptive in their regulations, it would increase  
            the workload for those departments. That workload should be  
            absorbable within existing resources.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . AB 2738 is intended to require greater justification,  
            transparency, and specificity when an agency promulgates  








                                                                  AB 2738
                                                                  Page  2

            regulations that mandate the use of a specific technology.  

           2)Background  . During the rulemaking process, a state agency is  
            required to prepare an Initial Statement of Reasons (ISOR)  
            whenever it proposes to create, repeal or amend a regulation.   
              An ISOR describes the basis of the regulation, the purpose  
            of the rule, how it is intended to be implemented and the data  
            on which the public agency relied to develop the proposed  
            regulatory change.  An ISOR must provide a description of  
            reasonable alternatives to the rule being proposed.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081