Bill Text: CA SB639 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

California Senate Bill 639 (Prior Session Legislation)

Introduced

Bill Title: Regulations: economic impact analysis.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-31 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB639 Detail]

Download: California-2011-SB639-Introduced.html

BILL NUMBER: SB 639	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


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.
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 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.