Bill To Streamline CA Regulations

Katy Grimes: Sounding more like their Republican counterparts, Democratic Senators Fran Pavley, Ron Calderon, and Senate President Darrell Steinberg introduced a bill this week to implement regulatory reform, as well as streamline regulations in the state.

SB 366 would require state agencies to do a full review of their regulations. It also would create a faster permitting process for business start-ups or expansions.

The Associated Press reported that “the move comes as Democrats try to show that the majority party cares about the state’s business climate as it tries to persuade Republican lawmakers to approve a ballot measure that would call for higher taxes.”

Sen. Pavley has been a staunch pro-environment legislator, and supportive of AB 32, California’s global warming legislation which will bring about very strict air quality regulations.

Making the announcement presents a bit of a conundrum, as Pavley has authored many bills introducing new regulations. Some of Pavley’s 2009 bills include:

SB 31 – the AB 32 Revenue Allocation bill

SB 144 – Climate Change and Forest Land Conversion Act of 2009

SB 229 – Bay Delta Interim Governance of 2009

SB 435 – Clean Air Equity Act

AB 448 – Habitat Enhancement Act

SB 488 – Energy Efficiency Savings Act

SB 523 – Feed-in Tariff (mandating that utilities buy more energy from renewables)

SB 565 – Water Recycling

SB 736 – Sustainable Water Funding.

And some of her bills in in 2010 include:

SB 77 – Energy Efficiency Loans

SB 144 – Conserving Forests for Climate Benefits

SB 918 – Water Recycling

SB 1006  – Climate adaptation policy

SB 1319 Land Parcel Consolidation.

It is understandable that legislators want the public to know that they care. “If we’re going to help our businesses grow, create jobs and return to a vibrant economy, we have to make government more nimble and responsive,” said Steinberg in a press release. But the press release also said, “Senators Calderon and Pavley added that SB 366 strikes this appropriate balance between superfluous and necessary regulations.”

Can there be a balance involving “superfluous regulations?”

Perhaps indicating Pavley’s actual stance, she added, “It’s important for me to point out that this bill explicitly and directly maintains protections for the environment, public health and welfare, and worker safety.” “We simply cannot throw out those kinds of protections, but we can make government smarter and more responsive.”

It will be interesting to see just how far the Senators really go in trying to help businesses grow by limiting state regulations – particularly as AB 32 implementation is already underway in California. And by its very definition, AB 32 (California’s global warming legislation) imposes dramatic restrictions on every business in the state in an attempt to lower greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels.

California is unrelenting in pursuit of this questionable goal, even as another state pulls out of the global warming shell game (New Hampshire Withdraws from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative).

FEB. 17, 2011