BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
SB 749 (Steinberg)
Hearing Date: 1/17/2012 Amended: 1/04/2012
Consultant: Mark McKenzie Policy Vote: T&H 9-0
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BILL SUMMARY: SB 749 would establish procedures for the
California Transportation Commission (CTC) to follow when
adopting guidelines, and specify that CTC is exempt from the
rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA)
when adopting guidelines.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15 Fund
CTC legal review $50-$70 $50-$70 Special*
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* State Highway Account
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STAFF COMMENTS:
The APA generally 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. Administrative regulations are an extension
of statute and carry the weight of law, while guidelines are an
elaboration of policy and do not have the weight of law.
Typically guidelines are adopted through a relatively informal
process.
SB 749 is intended to specify a more formal process for CTC to
follow when it adopts guidelines pursuant to statutory
requirements or authorization, which would provide structure and
transparency without invoking the more stringent and
time-consuming requirements of the APA. Specifically, this bill
would require CTC to follow the following procedures when
adopting guidelines, except when adopting STIP guidelines:
Require CTC's legal counsel to review proposed guidelines for
necessity, authority, clarity, consistency, reference, and
redundancy, and recommend proposed action. Counsel's
recommendations would be subject to attorney-client privilege.
SB 749 (Steinberg)
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Require guidelines to be presented at a CTC meeting for public
comment, and specify timelines for making the proposed
guidelines available for public comment.
Require CTC staff to review and summarize objections and
recommendations to those comments and explain any proposed
changes to the guidelines.
Require the staff recommendations to be made public prior to a
subsequent hearing, at which time the CTC would consider staff
recommendations and public comment prior to voting on the
adoption of the guidelines.
Require CTC to maintain guideline adoption files, as
specified, which would include CTC counsel's confirmation that
proposed guidelines are consistent with the procedures
established by this bill.
Require CTC to include in its annual report to the Legislature
an accounting of its activities related to guideline adoption
during the prior year.
CTC indicates that the bill could impose costs of $50,000 to
$70,000 per year for additional legal counsel review depending
on the number and complexity of program guidelines that would
need to be developed or revised for Commission adoption. These
costs would be incurred for review of any new program guidelines
or revisions to existing program guidelines in a given year.
Staff notes that this bill is identical to SB 126 (Steinberg),
which passed the Senate last year, but was subsequently amended
to deal with a different subject. A previous identical bill, SB
1348 (Steinberg), was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger in 2010.
The veto message stated in part that the "bill is unnecessary
as it establishes a formal process which is very similar to the
process already used by the CTC."