Administrative Procedures Act: economic impact assessment.

Existing law requires every state agency subject to the Administrative Procedure Act to provide an initial statement of reasons for proposing the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation. The act requires the initial statement of reasons to include a standardized regulatory impact analysis prepared by each agency that proposes to adopt, amend, or repeal any major regulation, as defined, on or after November 1, 2013. The act also requires every state agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation that is not a major regulation or that is a major regulation proposed prior to November 1, 2013, to prepare an economic impact assessment that makes specified assessments. The bill would require an economic impact assessment to be included in the initial statement of reasons. Existing law requires the Department of Finance to adopt and update, as necessary, instructions for inclusion in the State Administrative Manual prescribing the methods that an agency is required to use in making a determination that a regulation imposes a local mandate and an estimate of the cost or savings to any state agency, the cost to any local agency or school district that is required to be reimbursed, as specified, other nondiscretionary cost or savings imposed on local agencies, and the cost or savings in federal funding to the state. The bill would instead require the Department of Finance to adopt and update, as necessary, instructions for inclusion in the State Administrative Manual prescribing the methods that an agency would be required to use in making the determinations and estimates of fiscal or economic impact required by specified provisions of the act. The bill would also exempt from the rulemaking provisions of the act any action by the Department of Finance to adopt and update, as necessary, instructions to a state agency on the preparation of an economic impact estimate or assessment of a proposed regulation. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 11346.3 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2723 that would become operative if this bill and AB 2723 are both chaptered and this bill is chaptered last.