Capitol shrinks transparency and accountability – Orange County Register

When Jerry Brown became governor in 1975, succeeding Ronald Reagan, the Capitol experienced a political culture shock.

Brown supplied his administration with young poverty fighters, civil rights lawyers, and labor unionists who immediately set out to undo what Reagan’s conservative regime had done in 8 years. previous year. That meant rewriting, repealing, or replacing the myriad “administrative rules” that Reagan enacted in many state agencies.

Very quickly, the Brownies’ ideological shift to the left provoked a backlash, especially from the business community, which eventually led to the legislature giving the Legislature the power to reject the laws. proposed rule, a direct rebuke to Brown.

However, just as the contest for legislative power seemed to be taking place, Speaker of Congress Leo McCarthy intervened with a compromise – the Office of Administrative Law, which was empowered to review the proposed rules and ensure that they comply with the intent of the underlying law.

OAL has been doing that job ever since. However, in recent years, the Legislature and governors have begun to quietly bypass the OAL by exempting some rules from its consideration and, in some cases, completely exempting them. policy must follow the usual rule-making process. As a result, agencies are empowered to issue their decrees abruptly and without any opportunity for affected people to comment before enactment.

We should thank lobbyist Chris Micheli for blowing the whistle on this trend. Micheli, a wonk legislative process, wrote an article listing how a number of legislative measures bypass the OAL and in some cases the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), which governs the writing and through rules.

He cited one example, the 2019 Senate Bill, a uniform application of state law to all federal labor and environmental standards that went into effect before Donald Trump was elected president. system. SB1 exempted this major law change, which affects virtually every business and every worker in the state, from both APA and OAL oversight as an emergency action that will be maintained for six years.

Micheli writes: “What is the problem with creating an exemption from the APA? First, it means that the Legislature (the body that is accountable to the public) has delegated its powers to the body of the executive branch that does not have to consult the public on the matters. his action.

“Secondly, it means that notice and ability to comment are removed for members of the public and the regulated community.

“Third, it means that an executive body or division not only has the authority to pass regulations, but also does not have to follow statutory procedures to pass those regulations.”

Unfortunately, OAL’s omission of rule-making procedures and oversight is not an isolated example of Capitol politicians’ sinister tendencies to limit both transparency and accountability. accountability as they enact ordinances that affect the lives of nearly 40 million Californians.