Regulations.

(1) The Administrative Procedure Act generally sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies, and for review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. The act requires an agency, prior to submitting a proposal to adopt, amend, or repeal an administrative regulation, to determine the economic impact of the regulation by preparing an economic impact analysis. The act defines a major regulation as a regulation that the agency determines has an expected economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals in an amount exceeding $50,000,000. Existing law requires an agency proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a major regulation to also prepare a standardized regulatory impact analysis. This bill would instead define a major regulation as a regulation that the agency determines has an expected economic impact on California business enterprises and individuals in an amount exceeding $15,000,000. This bill would modify the requirements that an adopting agency must meet when preparing the economic impact analysis and the standardized regulatory impact analysis. (2) The act requires that state agencies proposing to adopt regulations, prior to publication of the notice of proposed action, involve parties that would be subject to the proposed regulations in public discussions regarding those proposed regulations, when the proposed regulations involve complex proposals or a large number of proposals that cannot easily be reviewed during the comment period. The act also provides that these requirements are not subject to judicial review or a specified review by the office. This bill would instead make that requirement applicable to all proposed regulations. The bill would repeal the provisions that exempt these requirements from judicial review and review by the office. The bill would require the office to return the regulation to the agency if the agency does not comply with these requirements.