BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 213
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Date of Hearing: April 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 213 (Silva) - As Introduced: January 31, 2011
SUBJECT : Administrative Procedure Act: notice of proposed
actions: local government agencies.
SUMMARY : Requires agencies, when considering it appropriate,
to mail or electronically mail (email) a notice of prosed action
to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to local government
agencies or local government agency representatives that are
likely to be affected by the proposed action. Specifically,
this bill :
1)Requires an agency, when it considers appropriate, to mail or
email to local government agencies or local government agency
representatives that are likely to be affected by the proposed
action.
2)Defines "local government agency representative" to include,
but not be limited to:
a) Countywide elected officials whose departments would be
impacted by a prosed action;
b) County administrators or executive officers of a county
whose operations may be impacted by a proposed action;
c) City managers of a city whose operations may be impacted
by a proposed action;
d) General managers of a special district whose operations
may be impacted by a proposed action; and,
e) A statewide association whose membership is likely to be
affected by a proposed action, including, but not limited
to:
i) The California State Association of Counties;
ii) The County Auditors Association of California;
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iii) The California Assessors' Association;
iv) The County Recorders Association of California;
v) The California District Attorneys Association;
vi) The California State Sheriffs' Association;
vii) The California Association of Public Administrators,
Public Guardians, and Public Conservators;
viii) The California Association of County Treasurers and
Tax Collectors;
ix) The League of California Cities;
x) The California Special Districts Association:
xi) The California County Superintendents Educational
Services Association;
xii) The California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials; and,
xiii) The California Association of Sanitation Agencies.
EXISTING LAW governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment,
or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of
those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law
(OAL) under the Administrative Procedures 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 email to the League of
California Cities and special districts were 'notified' by a
single email to the California Special District Association. As
a result, most jurisdictions across the state were unaware that
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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 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.
This bill is a substantially similar to AB 1957 (Silva) of 2010,
however, this bill allows for email notification instead of
notification via traditional mail. AB 1957 was held in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
Support . The Orange County Board of Supervisors writes in
support, "Current law requires notification of proposed
rulemakings to interested parties and affected state agencies
but does not include procedures for notifying affected local
government agencies. Current law also puts the responsibility
on the adopting agency to say whether a proposal would impose
cost on local governments but there is no verification
mechanism. AB 213 is intended to improve state notification
procedures for proposed rulemakings that impact local agencies,
by requiring an agency to mail a notice of proposed action to
adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation to local government
agencies or local government agency representatives that the
agency believes may be interested in, or impact by, the proposed
action."
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Previous legislation . AB 1957 (Silva) of 2010 requires state
agencies to mail a notice of a proposed action to adopt, amend,
or repeal a regulation to local government agencies, as
specified. This bill was held in the Assembly Appropriations
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
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
Orange County Board of Supervisors
Urban Counties Caucus
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Rebecca May / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301