BILL NUMBER: AB 1833INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Logue and Garrick FEBRUARY 12, 2010 An act to add Section 11346.31 to the Government Code, relating to regulations. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1833, as introduced, Logue. Regulations: economic impact analysis. The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would additionally require the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the State Air Resources Board, when proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation, to complete an economic impact analysis of that action prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal. The bill would require the economic impact analysis to contain the projected cost of the action to the General Fund, the projected total economic impact of the action, including the cost to small business and the estimated number of jobs to be lost, a description of all feasible regulatory alternatives and a cost-benefit analysis of each alternative, and a summary of written criticisms, as specified. The bill would require the agency to make the economic impact report available on the agency's Internet Web site. 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) The residents of the state expect that their state government will enact laws and promulgate regulations to the general benefit of the people and that regulations promulgated will tend to maximize benefits to society while minimizing costs. (b) Administrative and regulatory actions can have significant and far-reaching consequences for individuals, nonprofit organizations, and businesses throughout the state. (c) Administrative and regulatory actions should be based on adequate information concerning the need for, and consequences of, the proposed action. (d) Administrative and regulatory actions that maximize benefits to society while minimizing costs are preferable to actions that tend toward the opposite. (e) The agencies, boards, departments, and offices of the state generally strive to promulgate regulations that benefit the people of the state. (f) The Legislature has in numerous instances required that the agencies, boards, departments, and offices of the state take cost considerations into account when promulgating regulations. (g) The Legislature has specifically required that the scientific basis of environmental protection regulations be subject to analysis and peer review. (h) The costs and benefits of other regulations promulgated by agencies that affect jobs in this state and the overall business climate should be equally subject to analysis. SEC. 2. Section 11346.31 is added to the Government Code, to read: 11346.31. (a) This section is limited in its applicability to the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the State Air Resources Board. (b) In addition to any other requirements, a state agency included in subdivision (a) that proposes to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation shall complete an economic impact analysis of that action prior to the adoption, amendment, or repeal. The economic impact analysis shall include all of the following: (1) The projected cost of the action to the General Fund. (2) The projected total economic impact of the action, including the cost to small business and the estimated number of jobs to be lost as a result of the action. (3) A description of all feasible regulatory alternatives and a cost-benefit analysis of each alternative. (4) A summary of the written criticisms of the proposed action received a reasonable time prior to the publication of the written analysis, including letters, memoranda, reports, and written allegations, of which the agency has knowledge, that the action is discriminatory, unfair, unclear, inconsistent with statute, or beyond the authority of the agency to enact. (c) An agency shall make the economic impact report described in subdivision (b) available on the agency's Internet Web site.