BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          SB 1520 (Calderon) - State government: administrative 
          efficiency.
          
          Amended: May 22, 2012           Policy Vote: GO 12-1, EQ 6-0
          Urgency: Yes                    Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 24, 2012      Consultant: Marie Liu
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: This bill would require the Office of Planning and 
          Research (OPR) to provide information to a permit applicant 
          regarding the permit process for a proposed development project.

          Fiscal Impact: Likely at least in the low hundreds of thousands 
          of dollars from the General Fund beginning in 20113-14 for 
          permit information assistance.
          
          Background: In the 1980s through the early 2000s, the state has 
          had a unit for permit assistance- first the Office of Permit 
          Assistance within OPR and later with the Department of Permit 
          Assistance within the Trade and Commerce Agency. In 2003, when 
          the Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency was abolished, the 
          state's permit assistance responsibilities were repealed (AB 
          1757, Committee on Budget) Chapter 229/2003. 

          The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) establishes rulemaking 
          procedures and standards for state agencies. State regulations 
          must also be adopted in compliance with regulations adopted by 
          the Office of Administrative Law. The APA, among other things, 
          requires preparation of an economic impact assessment and a 
          standardized regulatory analysis under certain conditions.

          Proposed Law: This bill would reestablish the responsibility 
          within OPR to provide a permit applicant with information 
          regarding the permit approval process and assistance in 
          determining any permits that would be needed for a proposed 
          development project. Further, the OPR would be explicitly 
          authorized to coordinate state agencies to resolve questions or 
          mediate disputes regarding a permit application. This is an 
          urgency measure.









          SB 1520 (Calderon)
          Page 1


          Related Legislation: There have been several past attempts to 
          reestablish different version of an Office of Permit Assistance 
          within OPR, including SB 959 (Ducheny) 2010 which was vetoed and 
          AB 49 (Gatto) 2011and AB 1549 (Gatto) 2011, which were both held 
          by the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

          Staff Comments: This bill attempts to provide project proponents 
          with information and assistance in the permit application 
          process in a manner that is more limited than past attempts to 
          establish an Office of Permit Assistance. Depending on the 
          demand, staff estimates that OPR would need at least one PY, and 
          perhaps several, to respond to permit assistance requests at a 
          cost in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars. 
          The past proposals to reestablish the Office of Permit 
          Assistance contained a provision that would have allowed OPR to 
          charge a fee on project proponents seeking assistance in an 
          amount that would not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of 
          providing such assistance. Staff notes that such a fee can limit 
          the fiscal impact of this bill, although it is unlikely that 
          this fee can offset the entire costs of providing such 
          assistance.