Administrative Procedure Act: proposed regulations: cost of living impact on residents of the state.

Assembly Member Ávila Farías proposes expanding California's regulatory review process to require state agencies to evaluate how new regulations affect residents' cost of living. The legislation amends the Administrative Procedure Act to mandate assessment of how regulatory changes impact essential expenses like housing, transportation, food, healthcare, and taxes.

Under the amended process, agencies must analyze cost of living impacts when proposing new regulations or changes to existing ones. The Office of Administrative Law would develop standardized methodology for these assessments and conduct independent analysis of agencies' economic impact evaluations. For regulations found to have significant cost of living effects, agencies must either pursue less costly alternatives or provide detailed justification for why lower-cost options are not feasible.

The bill extends the review period for major regulations from 30 to 60 working days, allowing more thorough evaluation of economic impacts. When outside contractors perform economic analyses, the Office of Administrative Law would select and oversee the contractors to ensure consistent methodology. Regulations could be returned to agencies if independent review reveals substantial cost of living impacts that have not been adequately addressed.

The changes add cost of living considerations to existing regulatory review standards like necessity, authority, and clarity. This expands the scope of economic impact assessment beyond traditional measures like job creation and business effects to include direct financial impacts on California residents. The Office of Administrative Law would establish thresholds for determining when cost of living impacts become significant enough to warrant regulatory revision.