20250SB__120498ENR INTRODUCED 2026-02-19 PASSED_ASSEMBLY 2026-07-02 PASSED_SENATE 2026-04-16 ENROLLED 2026-07-07 2025 SB ENR Introduced by Senator Ochoa Bogh (Coauthors: Senators Alvarado-Gil, Choi, and Seyarto) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Alanis, Hadwick, and Lackey) LEAD_AUTHOR SENATE Ochoa Bogh COAUTHOR SENATE Alvarado-Gil COAUTHOR SENATE Choi COAUTHOR SENATE Seyarto COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Alanis COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Hadwick COAUTHOR ASSEMBLY Lackey

An act to amend

Section 11349.3 of the Government Code, relating to state government. state government Administrative regulations. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth 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. Existing law requires the office to review regulations on the bases of necessity, authority, clarity, consistency, reference, and nonduplication and requires the office to either approve or disapprove the regulation within working days.

If the office disapproves a regulation, existing law requires the office to return it to the adopting agency and include the reasons for disapproval, as specified. This bill would require the office to report a disapproval and the reasons for disapproval to the Legislature within days of returning a regulation to the adopting agency, as specified. MAJORITY NO YES NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION

Section 11349.3 of the Government Code is amended to read: 11349.3. (

a) The office shall either approve a regulation submitted to it for review and transmit it to the Secretary of State for filing or disapprove it within working days after the regulation has been submitted to the office for review. If the office fails to act within days, the regulation shall be deemed to have been approved and the office shall transmit it to the Secretary of State for filing. (b)

(1) If the office disapproves a regulation, it shall return it to the adopting agency within the 30-day period specified in subdivision (

a) accompanied by a notice specifying the reasons for disapproval. Within seven calendar days of the issuance of the notice, the office shall provide the adopting agency with a written decision detailing the reasons for disapproval. A regulation shall not be disapproved except for failure to comply with the standards set forth in

Section 11349.1 or for failure to comply with this chapter.

(2) Within days of returning a regulation to the adopting agency pursuant to paragraph (1), the office shall report the disapproval and the reasons for disapproval to the Legislature in compliance with

Section 9795. (

c) If an agency determines, on its own initiative, that a regulation submitted pursuant to subdivision (

a) should be returned by the office prior to completion of the office’s review, it may request the return of the regulation. All requests for the return of a regulation shall be memorialized in writing by the submitting agency no later than one week following the request. Any regulation returned pursuant to this subdivision shall be resubmitted to the office for review within the one-year period specified in subdivision (

b) of

Section 11346.4 or shall comply with

Article 5 (commencing with

Section 11346) prior to resubmission. (

d) The office shall not initiate the return of a regulation pursuant to subdivision (

c) as an alternative to disapproval pursuant to subdivision (b).