Regulations: review process.

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies, including a requirement that the notice of proposed action contain prescribed cost estimates associated with the proposed regulation. Existing law also provides for the review of these regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would establish an Economic Analysis Unit within the office. The bill would require agencies to make publicly available and submit to the unit specified cost estimates that pertain to a proposed regulation and specified information used to develop the cost estimates, as prescribed. The bill would require the unit to review final revised cost estimates for regulations that the agency determines to have a cost estimate of $50,000,000 or more. The bill also authorizes a stakeholder to petition the director of the office to direct the unit to review a regulation that the stakeholder believes has an actual cost of $50,000,000 or more. The bill requires the unit to develop an appropriate methodology for reviewing agency cost estimates for proposed regulations and to approve or reject the cost estimates, as specified.