California Air Resources Board

Would have required agencies to consider cost-of-living impacts on residents before turning in a proposal to create, change, or undo a regulation. The bill would have added cost-of-living impacts to the list of considerations for an economic impact assessment (EIA) and standardized regulatory impact assessment (SRIA). This bill also would have tasked the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) with creating a consistent way to calculate cost-of-living impacts for all agencies. The LAO would have also conducted their own analysis on cost-of-living impacts due to this bill. If they found ways to lower the cost-of-living-impact, they must give that information to the regulating agency for their consideration. Additionally, this bill would have made the Department of Finance create and maintain on their website a tracker to show the total economic impact of all regulations. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have amended the Administrative Procedure Act to require the economic assessment for non-major regulations to include the extent it will affect cost of living on residents of the State, and to require the standardized regulatory impact analysis for major regulations to address the cost of living impacts on residents of the State. The bill also would have required an agency to notify the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) when the agency determines it needs to contract for outside services to perform such analyses and would have required OAL to select the contractor and oversee its work. The bill would have required OAL to adopt a standardized cost of living methodology for use by all agencies. The bill would have required OAL during rulemaking review to conduct an independent analysis into the adequacy of an agency’s economic analyses, among other things. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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