Agency regulations and economic impact.

Existing law requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to regulate various laws regulating agriculture and farmland in the state. Existing law provides that the department is under the control of a civil executive officer known as the Secretary of Food and Agriculture and authorizes the department to provide for the issuance and renewal on a 2-year basis of licenses, certificates of registration, or other indicia of authority issued by the department or any agency in the department. This bill would designate the secretary as the ombudsman for all state agriculture regulations and would require the ombudsman to provide assistance in understanding the process for obtaining permits, assistance in the expeditious completion of the process for obtaining permits, and agriculture-related information and education to assist policy development regarding agricultural issues. The bill would make the ombudsman responsible for reviewing and identifying agriculture regulations that exist within the state and that may have a negative impact on the agricultural industry, and make recommendations regarding changes necessary to alleviate those negative impacts. The bill would also require the ombudsman to report these recommendations to the President pro Tempore of the Senate and to the Speaker of the Assembly on an annual basis, as specified. Existing law sets forth procedures for the adoption of administrative regulations. Among other requirements, these provisions require that every agency submit an initial statement of reasons for proposing the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation, including facts, evidence, documents, testimony, or other evidence on which the agency relies to support an initial determination that the action will not have a significant adverse economic impact on business. This bill would repeal the requirement that every agency include in the initial statement facts, evidence, documents, testimony, or other evidence on which the agency relies to support an initial determination that the action will not have a significant adverse economic impact on business. Existing law requires that the notice of proposed adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation include specified information, including, if the agency makes an initial determination that the action will not have a significant statewide adverse economic impact directly affecting business, a declaration to that effect. Existing law also requires every agency to prepare and submit with an adopted regulation a final statement of reasons that includes, among other things, an explanation setting forth the reasons for rejecting any proposed alternatives that would lessen the adverse economic impact on small businesses. Existing law also requires state agencies proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal any administrative regulation to assess the potential for adverse economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals, as specified. The bill would also revise these requirements with respect to the final statement to require that it include an explanation setting forth the reasons for rejecting any proposed alternatives that would lessen the adverse economic impact on any business, rather than small businesses. The bill would also require an agency to provide in the notice of proposed action documentation of the assessment described above to include cumulative adverse economic impacts, as defined, in addition to other adverse impacts, on California business.