AB 1612, as amended, Donnelly. State government: regulations.
The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. The act requires the Office of Administrative Law to provide on its Internet Web site, free of charge, the full text of the California Code of Regulations, and a list of, and a link to the full text of, each regulation filed with the Secretary of State that is pending effectiveness, as specified. Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel to make specified information available to the public in electronic form, including, among other things, the legislative calendar, the text of each bill introduced in each current legislative session, the California Codes, and the California Constitution.
This bill would require the Office of Administrative Law to make those regulations searchable in one or more formats and by one or more means in order to provide the greatest feasible access to the public, and also make those regulations available by other means, as specified. This bill would declare legislative intent to provide a level of public access to the California Code of Regulations that is equal to, or greater than, the level of access to the California Codes provided by the Legislative Counsel.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 11344 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:
The office shall do all of the following:
4(a) (1) Provide for the official compilation, printing, and
5publication of adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations,
6which shall be known as the California Code of Regulations. On
7and after July 1, 1998, the office shall make available on the
8Internet, free of charge, the full text of the California Code of
9Regulations, and may contract with another state agency or a
10private entity in order to provide this service.
11(2) The regulations required to be made available on the Internet
12pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be searchable in one or more
13formats and by one or more means in order to
provide the greatest
14feasible access to the general public in this state, including the
15ability to access all or any part of the regulations. The regulations
16may also be made available by any other means of access that
17would facilitate public access to the information.
18(3) For purposes of this subdivision,begin insert to provide theend insert “greatest
19feasiblebegin delete access”end deletebegin insert access,” the office end insert shall notbegin delete include intentionally begin insert do any of the following:end insert
20installingend delete
21(A) Charge any fee to enable the access that is required by
22subdivision (d) of Section 11135 for individuals with disabilities.
23Any accessibility options advertised to end users of the Internet
24Web site under the “accessibility” link, including any frameless,
25text-based interface provided pursuant to Section 1194.22(k) of
26Title 36 of the Code of Federal Regulations, shall be made
27available to the public free of charge.
28begin insert(B)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insertIntentionally installend insert any tool, including, but not limited to,
29a meta tag, designed for the express purpose of blocking third-party
30Internet search engines frombegin delete accessing orend deletebegin insert
accessing, end insert indexingbegin insert, or
31providing foreign language translation ofend insert the regulations.
P3 1(4) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting this subdivision,
2that the office provide a level of public access to the California
3Code of Regulations that is equal to, or greater than, the level of
4access to the California Codes provided by the Legislative Counsel
5pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 10248.
6(b) Make available on its Internet Web site a list of, and a link
7to the full text of, each regulation filed with the Secretary of State
8that is pending effectiveness pursuant to Section 11343.4.
9(c) Provide for the compilation, printing, and publication of
10weekly updates of the California Code of Regulations. This
11publication shall be known as the California Code of Regulations
12Supplement and shall contain amendments to the code.
13(d) Provide for the publication dates and manner and form in
14which regulations shall be printed and distributed and ensure that
15regulations are available in printed form at the earliest practicable
16date after filing with the Secretary of State.
17(e) Ensure that each regulation is printed together with a
18reference to the statutory authority pursuant to which it was enacted
19and the specific statute or other provision of law which the
20regulation is implementing, interpreting, or making specific.
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