The authors provide an overview of California's rulemaking process for executive branch agencies and guidelines for conducting standardized regulatory impact assessments for major regulations. They also provide guidance on economic impact assessment methodologies and technical approaches for assessing the impacts of future proposed regulations.

Guidelines for Conducting California Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessments

David Metz, Benjamin M. Miller, Melissa Kay Diliberti, Weilong Kong

ResearchPublished Jan 30, 2024

The authors of this report provide an overview of California's rulemaking process for executive branch agencies and the state's guidelines for conducting standardized regulatory impact assessments (SRIAs) for major regulations. They also provide guidance on economic impact assessment methodologies and technical approaches for assessing impacts of future proposed regulations.

The authors describe the purpose of a SRIA, when state agencies are required to conduct a SRIA, the overall rulemaking process for major regulations, the standard elements of a SRIA, high-level descriptions of the methods and tools that can be used for the assessment, and commonly requested revisions from the California Department of Finance (DOF) as the principal agency tasked with reviewing SRIAs.

Recommendations

  • California state agencies should be careful to avoid common errors in developing SRIAs. They should be in close communication with DOF for informal feedback in advance of the formal submission of a SRIA and should review available guidance materials for insights.
  • The California legislature should direct DOF to develop more-detailed guidance on best practices for SRIAs and to focus on common issues. DOF should also consider providing more-detailed guidelines for areas in which it has frequently raised issues with assumptions in analyses. In addition, DOF should consider providing more guidance on macroeconomic models, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
  • The California legislature should consider removing certain analytical requirements that increase the rulemaking burden for state agencies but provide limited informational value for decisionmaking.
  • The California legislature should direct DOF to require that state agencies publicly post updated analyses when economic methods, key assumptions, or findings in a SRIA are substantially changed after the document is initially reviewed by DOF or posted for public comment.

Topics

Document Details

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Metz, David, Benjamin M. Miller, Melissa Kay Diliberti, and Weilong Kong, Guidelines for Conducting California Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessments. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2024. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1386-1.html.
BibTeX RIS

This study was sponsored by the California Department of Industrial Relations (DIR) and conducting by RAND Education and Labor and the Justice Policy Program within RAND Social and Economic Well-Being.

This publication is part of the RAND research report series. Research reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND research reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.