Issues - Regulatory Reform
CALIFORNIA’S REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT IS THE MOST COSTLY, COMPLEX AND UNCERTAIN IN THE NATION
By a large margin, California’s regulatory environment is the most costly, complex and uncertain in the nation. No other state comes close to California on these dimensions. For example in the area of labor law, California enacted 15 statutory changes per year between 1992 and 2002. This rate is four times the average for state legislatures nationwide over that same period and three times the average in New York.
Legislative, Business Leaders Announce Agreement on Regulatory Reform & New Economic Development Office
In a move to improve California’s business climate and help create jobs for Californians, Senate President pro Tempore Darrell Steinberg and Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez announced an agreement on key legislation to reform California’s regulatory system and establish a new office focused on economic development.
SB 617, coauthored by Senators Ron Calderon (D-Montebello) and Fran Pavley (D-Santa Monica), implements significant new regulatory reforms that are key to luring new businesses to California, growing existing business in California, and helping create jobs for Californians. Specifically, the bill requires state agencies to review major regulations more thoroughly, focusing on how proposed regulations would impact: investment in California; incentives for innovation; creation of new businesses in California; creation or elimination of jobs; and, equally importantly, the health, safety and welfare of the public, workers, and the environment.
AB 29, authored by Speaker Pérez (D-Los Angeles), implements recommendations by business leaders to create the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (or “Go Biz”) as the lead agency to develop economic strategy and marketing of California’s inherent advantages for commerce. The bill would simultaneously create a California Business Investment Services Program to assist people and businesses who want to invest in, and expand, California trade and industry.
Little Hoover Commission on Regulatory Reform:
Better Regulation: Improving California’s Rulemaking Process
The Little Hoover Commission spent the a year looking at the way state agencies develop regulations. Its conclusion: In order to better protect its citizens and encourage economic development, California must improve its regulatory process.