AB 291

Bill Subjects

Abstract

Existing law establishes the Joint Sunset Review Committee, a legislative committee comprised of 10 Members of the Legislature, to identify and eliminate waste, duplication, and inefficiency in government agencies and to conduct a comprehensive analysis of every "eligible agency" for which a date for repeal has been established, to determine if the agency is still necessary and cost effective. Existing law requires each eligible agency scheduled for repeal to submit a report to the committee containing specified information. Existing law requires the committee to take public testimony and evaluate the eligible agency prior to the date the agency is scheduled to be repealed, and requires that an eligible agency be eliminated unless the Legislature enacts a law to extend, consolidate, or reorganize the agency. Existing law also requires the committee to review eligible agencies and evaluate and determine whether each has demonstrated a public need for its continued existence and to submit a report to the Legislature detailing whether an agency should be terminated, continued, or whether its functions should be modified. This bill would abolish the Joint Sunset Review Committee on January 1 or an unspecified year. The bill would, commencing on that same January 1, establish the California Sunset Review Commission within the executive branch to assess the continuing need for any agency, as defined, to exist. The commission would consist of 10 members, with 8 members appointed by the Governor and 2 Members of the Legislature each appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly, subject to specified terms. The commission would be under the direction of a director appointed by the commission members. The bill would require the commission to meet regularly and to work with each agency subject to review to evaluate the need for the agency to exist, identify required statutory, regulatory, or management changes, and develop legislative proposals to enact those changes. The bill would require the commission to prepare a report, containing legislative recommendations based on its agency review, to be submitted to the Legislature and would also require the commission to meet certain cost-savings standards within 5 years. This bill would require an agency to submit a specified self-evaluation report to the commission prior to its review. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to provide the commission with an estimate of the staffing needed to perform the commission's work.