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SB-639 Regulations: economic impact analysis. (2011-2012)

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SB639:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2011–2012 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 639

Introduced  by  Senator Cannella

February 18, 2011

An act to add Section 11346.31 to the Government Code, relating to regulations.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 639, as introduced, Cannella. 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 entities that comprise that agency, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, 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 private sector employers 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 comments, as specified. The bill would require the agency to subject the report to a review by an independent entity, as defined, and to make the economic impact report available on the agency’s Internet Web site.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   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 boards, departments, and offices that make up that agency, and the Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
(b) In addition to any other requirement, 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 private sector employers 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 comments regarding 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) (1) An agency subject to this section shall satisfy the requirements imposed by subdivision (b) by either:
(A) Retaining, at the agency’s cost, an independent entity that has demonstrated experience in economic analysis, for the purpose of producing the economic impact report.
(B) Performing the economic impact report and submitting the report, at the agency’s cost, to an independent entity that has demonstrated experience in economic analysis, for the purpose of obtaining an independent external review of the report.
(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “independent entity” means a private firm, an individual private person, or a public or private university.
(d) An agency shall make the economic impact report described in subdivision (b) available on the agency’s Internet Web site.