California Senate Bill SB988 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: SB 988AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 5, 2010 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2010 INTRODUCED BY Senator Huff (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Logue) (Coauthors: Senators Aanestad, Cogdill, Cox, Dutton, Hollingsworth, and Runner) FEBRUARY 8, 2010 An act to add Section 11349.95 to the Government Code, relating to regulations, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 988, as amended, Huff. Regulations: 5-year review and report. The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies.  Existing law establishes the Bureau of State Audits, which is headed by the State Auditor and has specified statutory duties, including the performance of statutorily mandated audits.  This bill would require the  Office of Administrative Law   Bureau of State Audits  to review  and report   ,   report, and make recommendations  on each regulation, before May 1 of the 5th year after the regulation was amended or adopted  ,  that the State Energy Resources and Development Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority, or any other state agency that has duties relating to state energy regulations or the implementation of those regulations adopts or amends on or after January 1, 2011. The bill would require the review  and report   , report, and recommendations  to include specified factors, including a summary of the written criticisms received by the agency that adopted or amended the regulation within the preceding 5 years and the estimated economic, small business, and consumer impact of the regulation, as specified. The bill would require the  office   bureau  to make the report available on its Internet Web site.  The bill would authorize the adopting agency to take specified actions in response to the bureau's report, and would provide that a regulation ceases to be operative, as specified, if the agency takes no a   ction.  This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 11349.95 is added to the Government Code, to read: 11349.95. (a) The applicability of this section is limited to the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Public Utilities Commission, the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority, and any other state agency that has duties relating to state energy regulations or the implementation of those regulations. (b) (1)  The Office of Administrative Law   Notwithstanding Section 8544.5, and upon an appropriation by the Legislature for the purposes of this section, the Bureau of State   Audits  on behalf of a state agency included in subdivision (a), shall review  and report   , report, and make recommendations  on any regulation that an agency included in subdivision (a) adopts or amends on and after January 1, 2011, as required by this section. The review  and report   , report, and recommendations  shall be completed by the  office   bureau  on or before May 1 immediately following five years after the date the regulation was adopted or amended. (2) The  office   bureau  shall make a report required by paragraph (1) available on its Internet Web site. (c) The review  and report   , report, and recommendations  required by this section shall include all of the following factors: (1) The general and specific statutes authorizing the regulation. (2) The  objective   purpose  of the regulation. (3) The effectiveness of the regulation in achieving the  objective   purpose  . (4) The consistency of the regulation with state and federal statutes and regulations and a listing of the statutes or regulations used in determining the consistency. (5) The enforcement policy of the agency that adopted or amended the regulation, including whether the regulation is currently being enforced and, if so, whether there are any problems with enforcement. (6) The view of the agency that adopted or amended the regulation regarding the current wisdom of the regulation. (7) The clarity, conciseness, and understandability of the regulation. (8) A summary of the written criticisms of the regulation received by the agency that adopted or amended the regulation within the five years immediately preceding the  office's   bureau's  five-year review report, including letters, memoranda, reports, and written allegations made in litigation or administrative proceedings to which the agency was a party, any indication that the regulation is discriminatory, unfair, unclear, inconsistent with statute, or beyond the authority of the agency to enact, and the status or result of the litigation or administrative proceedings. (9) The estimated economic, small business, and consumer impact of the regulation as compared to the economic, small business, and consumer impact statement prepared on the last making of the regulation, or, if no economic, small business, and consumer impact statement was prepared on the last making of the rule, an assessment of the actual economic, small business, and consumer impact of the regulation. (10) The course of action the agency that adopted or amended the regulation proposes to take regarding the regulation, including the month and year in which the agency anticipates submitting the rules to the  office   bureau  if the agency determines it is necessary to amend or repeal an existing rule, or to make a new rule. (d) In response to the  office's   bureau's  review  and report   , report, and recommendations  required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b), the agency that adopted or amended the regulation may do any of the following: (1) Do nothing, in which case the regulation will cease to be operative as of 2 years after the date the office   bureau  issued the report. (2) Implement the recommendations of the  office   bureau  . (3) Develop its own plan to  redress the concerns   address the recommendations  noted by the  office   bureau  in the report. SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to accelerate the creation of jobs in this state so that the ongoing economic crisis may be immediately addressed, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.