Regulations: agency review.

(1) 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. Existing law creates the State and Consumer Services; Business, Transportation and Housing; California Emergency Management; California Environmental Protection; California Health and Human Services; Labor and Workforce Development; Natural Resources; and Youth and Adult Correctional Agencies in state government with various duties to oversee the actions of state departments that are within those agencies. This bill would, until January 1, 2013, require each state agency, defined, to mean every state office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, and commission, except the California State University within 180 days of the effective date of the bill, to undertake specified actions in regards to the regulations that have been adopted by the state agency, including, among others, identifying any regulations that are duplicative, overlapping, inconsistent, or out of date, and adopting, amending, or repealing regulations to reconcile or eliminate any duplication, overlap, inconsistency, or out-of-date provisions, after conducting a publicly noticed hearing, as specified, and using procedures for adopting emergency regulations. The bill would also require each of the overseeing agencies listed above, until January 1, 2013, and within 60 days of the effective date of the bill, to notify any state department, board, or commission within that state agency of any regulations adopted by those entities that the agency has determined may be duplicative, overlapping, or inconsistent with a regulation adopted by another state department, board, or commission within the agency. The bill would also require a state department, board, or commission within an agency to notify that state agency of revisions to regulations that the entity proposes to make at least 60 days prior to the required noticed public hearing and adoption of the emergency regulation, as specified. (2) Existing law sets forth generally the procedures for the review and approval of permits for development projects in the state. This bill would, until January 1, 2013, establish the Streamlined Permit Review Team in state government, consisting of the Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, the Secretary for Environmental Protection, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency. The bill would require the team, upon the request of a permit applicant, to convene permitting agencies, as defined, to perform various activities in making the application process more efficient. The bill would require the permitting agencies to determine the completeness of an application complete and act upon the application within specified time periods, subject to certain conditions. This bill would require the team, on or before March 1, 2014, to submit a report to the Governor and to the Legislature with prescribed information relating to the permitting activities of the team. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision. This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.