BILL NUMBER: SB 401	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Fuller

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   An act to amend Section 11349.1 of, and to add Sections 11346.15
and 11349.10 to, the Government Code, relating to regulations.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 401, as introduced, Fuller. Regulations: repeal provisions.
   Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, 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.
   This bill would require that every regulation proposed by an
agency after January 1, 2012, include a provision repealing the
regulation in 5 years. The bill would prohibit the office from
approving a proposed regulation unless it contains repeal provisions.
The bill would authorize an agency, in the year prior to a
regulation's scheduled repeal, to amend the regulation to extend the
repeal date, as specified, after complying with certain public
hearing requirements.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 11346.15 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   11346.15.  Every regulation proposed by an agency on or after
January 1, 2012, shall include a provision that repeals the
regulation five years after the date that the regulation is approved
by the office. Notwithstanding the requirements of this article, the
regulation may be amended to change the repeal date in the manner
provided in Section 11349.95.
  SEC. 2.  Section 11349.1 of the Government Code is amended to read:

   11349.1.  (a) The office shall review all regulations adopted,
amended, or repealed pursuant to the procedure specified in Article 5
(commencing with Section 11346) and submitted to it for publication
in the California Code of Regulations Supplement and for transmittal
to the Secretary of State and make determinations using all of the
following standards:
   (1) Necessity.
   (2) Authority.
   (3) Clarity.
   (4) Consistency.
   (5) Reference.
   (6) Nonduplication.
   In reviewing regulations pursuant to this section, the office
shall restrict its review to the regulation and the record of the
rulemaking proceeding. The office shall approve the regulation or
order of repeal if it complies with the standards set forth in this
section and with this chapter.
   (b) In reviewing proposed regulations for the criteria in
subdivision (a), the office may consider the clarity of the proposed
regulation in the context of related regulations already in
existence.
   (c) The office shall adopt regulations governing the procedures it
uses in reviewing regulations submitted to it. The regulations shall
provide for an orderly review and shall specify the methods,
standards, presumptions, and principles the office uses, and the
limitations it observes, in reviewing regulations to establish
compliance with the standards specified in subdivision (a). The
regulations adopted by the office shall ensure that it does not
substitute its judgment for that of the rulemaking agency as
expressed in the substantive content of adopted regulations.
   (d) The office shall return any regulation subject to this chapter
to the adopting agency if any of the following occur:
   (1) The adopting agency has not prepared the estimate required by
paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 11346.5 and has not
included the data used and calculations made and the summary report
of the estimate in the file of the rulemaking.
   (2) The agency has not complied with Section 11346.3.
   (3) The adopting agency has prepared the estimate required by
paragraph (6) of subdivision (a) of Section 11346.5, the estimate
indicates that the regulation will result in a cost to local agencies
or school districts that is required to be reimbursed under Part 7
(commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4, and the adopting
agency fails to do any of the following:
   (A) Cite an item in the Budget Act for the fiscal year in which
the regulation will go into effect as the source from which the
Controller may pay the claims of local agencies or school districts.
   (B) Cite an accompanying bill appropriating funds as the source
from which the Controller may pay the claims of local agencies or
school districts.
   (C) Attach a letter or other documentation from the Department of
Finance which states that the Department of Finance has approved a
request by the agency that funds be included in the Budget Bill for
the next following fiscal year to reimburse local agencies or school
districts for the costs mandated by the regulation.
   (D) Attach a letter or other documentation from the Department of
Finance which states that the Department of Finance has authorized
the augmentation of the amount available for expenditure under the
agency's appropriation in the Budget Act which is for reimbursement
pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 to
local agencies or school districts from the unencumbered balances of
other appropriations in the Budget Act and that this augmentation is
sufficient to reimburse local agencies or school districts for their
costs mandated by the regulation. 
   (4) The regulation does not include provisions for the repeal of
the regulation, as required by Section 11346.15. 
   (e) The office shall notify the Department of Finance of all
regulations returned pursuant to subdivision (d).
   (f) The office shall return a rulemaking file to the submitting
agency if the file does not comply with subdivisions (a) and (b) of
Section 11347.3. Within three state working days of the receipt of a
rulemaking file, the office shall notify the submitting agency of any
deficiency identified. If no notice of deficiency is mailed to the
adopting agency within that time, a rulemaking file shall be deemed
submitted as of the date of its original receipt by the office. A
rulemaking file shall not be deemed submitted until each deficiency
identified under this subdivision has been corrected.
   This subdivision shall not limit the review of regulations under
this article, including, but not limited to, the conformity of
rulemaking files to subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 11347.3.
  SEC. 3.  Section 11349.10 is added to the Government Code, to read:

   11349.10.  (a) An agency may review an existing regulation that is
scheduled for repeal within the next year. If the agency determines
that there is a continued need for the regulation, then the agency
may amend the regulation in a manner that extends the repeal date of
the regulation another five years.
   (b) The requirements of Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346)
and Article 6 (commencing with Section 11349) shall not apply to a
proposed action by an agency to amend a regulation, if the extension
of the repeal date described in subdivision (a) is the only amendment
proposed to the existing regulation. However, the agency shall not
amend a regulation to extend the repeal date unless and until the
agency has conducted a noticed public hearing that provides for
public participation and consideration of public comments about the
continued need for the regulation. The agency shall submit the
amended regulation to the office for purposes of filing the amended
regulation with the Secretary of State.
   (c) Notwithstanding any other law, a regulation that is not
amended pursuant to this section prior to its repeal date, shall be
repealed on that date and be otherwise inoperative.
   (d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prevent an
agency from readopting a regulation that has expired by operation of
its repeal provision, if the agency readopts the regulation in full
compliance with the rulemaking requirements imposed by this chapter.