Cost of Compliance Bill Heads to Assembly Floor
CBIA-sponsored AB 1612 (Lara, D – South Gate), legislation that would require government agencies to provide an estimated cost and benefit of compliance when proposing new residential building standards, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee last week and now heads for a vote on the Assembly floor.
As a recap, the bill is very similar to the CBIA-sponsored SB 643 (Correa, D – Santa Ana) that made its way through the Senate in 2011 but was ultimately held in committee after concerns were raised by the Department of Finance that the legislation would create an additional general fund obligation. CBIA worked tirelessly over the break with the concerned agencies and has included language to address the issues raised last year.
AB 1612 would require an agency proposing a new housing related regulation to specifically cite the “estimated cost of compliance and benefits” of a proposed regulation. The agency would also be required to make available upon request the assumptions/analysis used in arriving at the “estimated cost and benefit of compliance.”
Current law requires an agency proposing a new regulation to specifically cite the “facts, evidence, documents, testimony, or other evidence” that allows them to make a determination of “no adverse economic impact.”
Unfortunately, existing law lacks the specificity requiring an agency to also provide a “cost of compliance.” AB 1612 will remedy this long-standing problem.
For more information, contact Silvio Ferrari.
