Chris Micheli

CA Legislative Explainer: State Mandated Local Programs  By Chris Micheli At the end of the Legislative Counsel’s Digest on the first page of every bill, there are four “Digest Keys,” which identify the vote required for passage of the bill, whether the bill contains an appropriation, whether the bill will be re-referred to a fiscal committee, and whether the bill contains a mandated local program. This last bill key will appear as either “ Local Program:  no” or “Local Program: yes.”             What is a mandated local program? Both the California Constitution and the California Government Code describe in detail a state-mandated local program. As a result of these laws, a California bill is identified as mandating or not mandating a local program that may require state reimbursement of costs borne  by the local entity. In other words, the state is required to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Basically, whenever the Legislat

CA Legislative Explainer: What Can a California Bill Do?  By Chris Micheli   Bills in the California Legislature can do one of three things or a combination of those three actions:  Add  a new statute;  amend  an existing statute; or,  repeal  an existing statute.   Bills can be found at the following website:  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/   This website is maintained by the Office of Legislative Counsel, which also drafts all bills and amendments. Legislative Counsel also helps readers of bills by using different font colors to assist in seeing how a bill proposes to change state statutes. Let’s review the three things a bill can do and how a reader can see those three law changes on the above website:   Add a new statute:   When a bill is first introduced, the font color is black and regular. The bill clearly states that the bill would “add” a new section to an existing Code. The following is an example of adding a new statute:   SECTION 1. Section 17070.

CA Legislative Explainer: Three Readings of a Bill  By Chris Micheli             The California Constitution requires a bill to be “read” three times before it can be debated and voted upon by either house of the Legislature. A “reading” of a bill in the Assembly or Senate is defined as being the presentation of the bill before the house by reading the bill’s number, author, and title. Each time the bill is read, those provisions are read aloud on the Floor by the Reading Clerk in either the Senate or Assembly.             There is a misconception that the three constitutionally-required readings of bills are the same. In fact, each is for a different purpose. Note that the three readings requirement can be suspended by a 2/3 vote in either house pursuant to the state Constitution. First Reading - The first reading of the bill takes place when it is actually introduced in either house. The bill is placed “across the desk (of the Assembly or Senate)” which is the official act of

CA Legislative Explainer: Tax Levy Bills  By Chris Micheli Under Article IV, Section 8(c)(3) of the California Constitution, “statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and urgency statutes shall go into effect immediately upon their enactment.” In addition, a tax levy is not subject to a referendum. So, what is a “tax levy”? Unfortunately, it is not defined in either the state Constitution or in statute. Nonetheless, a common misconception is that a “tax levy” is a tax increase bill. However, that is not always the case. While a tax levy is usually a collection tool used by the government, for California bills, a “tax levy” is a ny bill that imposes, repeals, or materially alters a state tax. It is often described as a bill that changes the base, rate, or burden of a state tax. The Office of Legislative Counsel indicates in the Title and Digest of the bill whether the bill is a tax levy. Specific

CA Regulatory Explainer: Overview of the California Rulemaking Process  By Chris Micheli   California has over 200 State agencies, departments, boards, and commissions that make public policy through their authority to adopt regulations. A list of State agencies that have adopted regulations can be found on the website of California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL), which is found at www.oal.ca.gov   OAL’s website also provides direct access to the California Code of Regulations (CCR), which is organized under various subject matter titles, of which there are 28 titles. These titles contain the over 60,000 state regulations that are currently in effect.   California’s Administrative Procedure Act (APA) contains required procedures for rule-making and administrative hearings conducted by all of these agencies and departments. The APA is found at Chapter 3.5, 4 and 5 commencing with Section 11340 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.   In addition,

CA Regulatory Explainer: OAL’s Six Standards of Review for Proposed Regulations  By Chris Micheli             California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) plays several roles concerning the rulemaking activities of the state’s two hundred regulatory agencies, departments, boards, and commissions. There is not just the “regular” rulemaking, but also emergency rulemaking, and even review of “underground” regulations.             Most agencies enjoy broad grants of rulemaking authority by statute. In some instances, the Legislature has provided a limited grant of authority in order to adopt regulations. Most of those two hundred regulatory entities have adopted regulations. And, OAL reviews over 500 regulations per year. When OAL reviews regulations, its review is dictated by the California Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which is found in the Government Code, and the APA sets forth six standards by which OAL determines whether a regulation was properly adopted. Those standar

CA Regulatory Explainer: Underground Regulations and the Role of OAL  By Chris Micheli             California’s Office of Administrative Law (OAL) is charged with ensuring that agency and department regulations are “clear, necessary, legally valid, and available to the public.” OAL is responsible for reviewing proposed regular and emergency regulations by California’s more than 200 state agencies and departments that have rulemaking authority. The formal rulemaking process is established by the California Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which is found in the Government Code, and the APA sets forth the criteria by which OAL reviews all of those regulations. OAL reviews regular and emergency rulemaking projects, as well as challenged “underground” regulations. On the OAL website, readers can track the list of rulemaking actions submitted to OAL for review by executive branch agencies and departments. This list is updated regularly by OAL. The website also contains a listing of