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Appendix C <br /> <br />m <br /> <br />State Streamlining--Recent History and Update <br /> <br />In April 1992, the Council on California Competitivehess produced a report, <br />"California's Jobs and Future." Besides regulatory streamlining, this report also covered <br />several other subjects: Workers' Compensation, capital and economic incentives, <br />education and training, and the legal system. Since this report, various activities have <br /> <br />The Governor has recently developed a five-point permit reform plan: <br /> <br />One-stop shops <br />Top-to-bottom review of permit authorities <br />Industry task forces <br />Tracking system and time limits, with guaranteed decisions, refunds <br />Customer service surveys <br /> <br />Steps toward this effort include the Environmental Protection Reform Act of 1993. <br />This act will provide a consolidated lead agency permit process with binding time <br />limits. There is also hazardous materials regulation reform that consolidates State <br />regulations with local implementation and provides for an outside review of Cal/EPA <br />health evaluations. <br /> <br />Related to these efforts, the Governor recently signed two bills that will help cot red <br />tape. SB 1082 (Calderon) will eliminate regulatory overlap and duplication. It will also <br />establish accountability for fees, instill total quality management techniques in <br />regulatory agencies and develop a unified program to consolidate the activities of <br />various agencies that issue permits and enforce hazardous waste laws. The other bill, <br />SB 1185 (Bergeson) begins the permit streamlining process by creating a system under <br />which one agency will coordlnitte the issuance of all necessary permits so the project <br />applicant can move quickly through the process. It also provides for expedited or <br />negotiated time limits for permit decisions. <br /> <br />In addition to the above, Cal/EPA has been forming task forces to gather and receive <br />suggestions for improving its permitting and regulatory processes. The task forces are <br />industry specific and consist of people from the industry, Cal/EPA, other regulatory <br />agencies as appropriate, and citizen/public/environmental groups. Task force goals <br />indude identifying overlap in regulations and recommending ways to eliminate it; <br />developing a clearer understanding of the cumulative effect of CaI/EPA on certain <br />industries; creating consolidated permit applications for certain industries; developing <br />streamlined reporting requirements using electronic filing; reviewing existing permit <br />assistance materials and making them more useful; and expanding the efforts to regional <br />environmental entities. <br /> <br />22 <br /> <br /> <br />