BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2041
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 17, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND CONSUMER
PROTECTION
Mary Hayashi, Chair
AB 2041 (Swanson) - As Introduced: February 23, 2012
SUBJECT : Regulations: adoption: disability access.
SUMMARY : Requires an agency, when submitting a notice of
proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation to the
Office of Administrative Law (OAL), to include a statement that
the agency shall provide, upon request, a description of the
proposed changes included in the proposed action, in a manner to
accommodate a person with a visual or other disability for which
effective communication is required under state or federal law
and that doing so may require extending the period of public
comment for the proposed action.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), setting
forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review,
and implementation of regulations by state agencies.
2)Establishes the OAL for the orderly review of adopted
regulations.
3)Requires an agency to provide a narrative description of
proposed regulations to persons with visual or other
disabilities upon request, and to provide the requester with
an extended public comment period, as specified.
4)Establishes the Americans with Disabilities Act under federal
law, which states that no qualified individual with a
disability shall, by reason of such disability, be excluded
from participation in or be denied the benefits of services,
programs, or activities of a public entity, or be subjected to
discrimination by any such entity.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS:
Purpose of this bill . According to the author, "The APA governs
AB 2041
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the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of
regulations by state agencies. Existing law also requires an
agency to publish a notice of proposed action that includes
specified information, thus giving the public an opportunity to
meaningfully participate in the regulatory process.
"Unfortunately, the reading software used by the blind and
visually impaired is unable to accurately interpret the
formatted text used by state agencies. Assemblymember Swanson's
Equal Access to Public Information for the Blind Act (Act),
which was signed by Governor Brown and became effective on
January 1, 2012 (AB 410, Chapter 495, Statutes of 2011)
attempted to fix this problem with respect to specified agencies
by requiring those agencies to provide proposed regulations in a
narrative format that can be interpreted by the reading software
used by the blind.
"The Act also required those designated agencies to include in
their notice of proposed actions a statement regarding the
availability of the new narrative descriptions. Although the
Governor signed AB 410 in its entirety, the notice provision was
unintentionally chaptered out by another bill. AB 2041 would
ensure that the provision is added into law, as was the intent
of the original bill."
Background . The OAL ensures that agency regulations are clear,
necessary, legally valid, and available to the public. The OAL
is responsible for reviewing administrative regulations proposed
by over 200 state agencies for compliance with the standards set
forth in the APA, for transmitting these regulations to the
Secretary of State, and for publishing regulations in the
California Code of Regulations (CCR).
The Federal Register provides legal notice of federal rules and
notices and makes them available in narrative description.
Previous legislation .
AB 410 (Swanson), Chapter 495, Statutes of 2011, requires an
agency to provide a narrative description of proposed
regulations to persons with visual or other disabilities upon
request, and to provide the requester with an extended public
comment period, as specified.
AB 1787 (Swanson) of 2010 requires agencies to include a
AB 2041
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narrative description of additions and deletions made to the CCR
that allows reading software used by the visually impaired to
translate those changes made to the CCR. This bill was held in
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Angela Mapp / B.,P. & C.P. / (916)
319-3301