Bill Text: CA AB1322 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Regulations: principles of regulation.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-01 - Died pursuant to Art. IV, Sec. 10(c) of the Constitution. From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB1322 Detail]
Download: California-2011-AB1322-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1322 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bradford
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Section 11340.15 to the Government Code, relating to
regulations.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1322, as amended, Bradford. Regulations: principles of
regulation.
Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the
procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by
state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the
Office of Administrative Law.
This bill would adopt the regulatory philosophy and the principles
of regulation, as outlined in Presidential Executive Order 12866, in
order to achieve the same regulatory benefits within the state, as
specified.
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. Section 11340.15 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
11340.15. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that this state
should seek to achieve the benefits associated with the regulatory
philosophy and principles of regulation described in Executive Order
12866, to the extent that they supplement and are not inconsistent
with the existing provisions of this chapter.
(b) In order to achieve the benefits associated with Executive
Order 12866, this state adopts the following regulatory philosophy,
as outlined in Section 1(a) of Executive Order 12866:
(1) Agencies should promulgate only those regulations as are
required by law, are necessary to interpret the law, or are made
necessary by compelling public need, such as material failures of
private markets to protect or improve the health and safety of the
public, the environment, or the well-being of Californians.
(2) In deciding whether and how to regulate, agencies should
assess all costs and benefits of available regulatory alternatives,
including the alternative of not regulating. Costs and benefits shall
be understood to include both quantifiable measures, to the fullest
extent that these can be usefully estimated, and qualitative measures
of costs and benefits that are difficult to quantify, but
nevertheless essential to consider. Further, in choosing among
alternative regulatory approaches, agencies should select those
approaches that maximize net benefits, including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety, and other advantages,
distributive impacts, and equity, unless a statute requires another
regulatory approach.
(c) (1) In order to achieve the benefits associated with Executive
Order 12866, this state adopts the principles of regulation
contained in this subdivision, as outlined in Section 1(b) of
Executive Order 12866.
(2) To ensure that the agencies' regulatory programs are
consistent with the philosophy set forth above, agencies should
adhere to the following principles to the extent permitted by law and
where applicable:
(A) Each agency shall identify the problem that it intends to
address, including, where applicable, the failures of private markets
or public institutions that warrant new agency action, as well as
assess the significance of that problem.
(B) Each agency shall examine whether existing regulations, or
other law, have created, or contributed to, the problem that a new
regulation is intended to correct and whether those regulations, or
other law, should be modified to achieve the intended goal of
regulation more effectively.
(C) Each agency shall identify and assess available alternatives
to direct regulation, including providing economic incentives to
encourage the desired behavior, such as user fees or marketable
permits, or providing information upon which choices can be made by
the public.
(D) In setting regulatory priorities, each agency shall consider,
to the extent reasonable, the degree and nature of the risks posed by
various substances or activities within its jurisdiction.
(E) When an agency determines that a regulation is the best
available method of achieving the regulatory objective, it shall
design its regulations in the most cost-effective manner to achieve
the regulatory objective. In doing so, each agency shall consider
incentives for innovation, consistency, predictability, the costs of
enforcement and compliance to the government, regulated entities, and
the public, and flexibility, distributive impacts, and equity.
(F) Each agency shall assess both the costs and the benefits of
the intended regulation and, recognizing that some costs and benefits
are difficult to quantify, propose or adopt a regulation only upon a
reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation
justify its costs.
(G) Each agency shall base its decisions on the best reasonably
obtainable scientific, technical, economic, and other information
concerning the need for, and consequences of, the intended
regulation.
(H) Each agency shall identify and assess alternative forms of
regulation and shall, to the extent feasible, specify performance
objectives, rather than specifying the behavior or manner of
compliance that regulated entities must adopt.
(I) Wherever feasible, agencies shall seek views of appropriate
state, local, and tribal officials before imposing regulatory
requirements that might significantly or uniquely affect those
governmental entities. Each agency shall assess the effects of
federal state regulations on state,
local, and tribal governments, including specifically the
availability of resources to carry out those mandates, and seek to
minimize those burdens that uniquely or significantly affect those
governmental entities, consistent with achieving regulatory
objectives. In addition, as appropriate, agencies shall seek to
harmonize federal state regulatory
actions with related state, local, and tribal regulatory and other
governmental functions.
(J) Each agency shall avoid regulations that are inconsistent,
incompatible, or duplicative with its other regulations or those of
other federal state agencies.
(K) Each agency shall tailor its regulations to impose the least
burden on society, including individuals, businesses of differing
sizes, and other entities, including small communities and
governmental entities, consistent with obtaining the regulatory
objectives, taking into account, among other things, and to the
extent practicable, the costs of cumulative regulations.
(L) Each agency shall draft its regulations to be simple and easy
to understand, with the goal of minimizing the potential for
uncertainty and litigation arising from such uncertainty.
(d) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to weaken or
undermine in any manner any human health, public or worker rights,
public welfare, environmental, or other protection established under
statute. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to effect the
authority or requirement for an agency to adopt regulations as
provided by statute.
