Chapter 1 – General Administration

The Department shall operate in compliance with the statutes and regulations established by the Legislature and control agencies.

This section seeks to establish guidelines for ensuring all proposed legislation affecting the department is identified and analyzed, that the department’s interests and positions are communicated to the Legislature, and the department responds to Legislative inquiries with the appropriate information in a timely manner.

The Secretary retains overall responsibility for effectively communicating andinterfacing with the Legislature.

The Assistant Secretary of the Office of Legislation (OOLOffice Of Legislation) shall ensure that all proposed legislation affecting the operation of the department’s receives timely analysis; support the development of positions on proposed legislation; coordinate with the Governor’s office to communicate departmental input and concerns; work collaboratively with legislative sponsors and stakeholders to provide technical assistance and ensure policy alignment as necessary; share information and positions with the Legislature, sponsors, stakeholders, and other interested parties as appropriate; respond to inquiries from the Legislature, its committees, staff, and constituents; assist in coordinating legislative tours; and ensure that reports required by the Legislature are accurately prepared and transmitted in a timely manner.

All departmental programs shall designate legislative coordinators to, upon request from OOLOffice Of Legislation, receive legislative requests, prepare proposed responses to legislative inquiries, prepare proposed analyses of pending legislation, prepare proposed mandated reports to the Legislature and provide information and statistics to assist others in the preparation of the department’s position.

Legislative Coordinators serve as the primary subject matter experts and points of contact between their assigned program areas and OOLOffice Of Legislation. They are responsible for analyzing legislative proposals, identifying operational and fiscal impacts, and ensuring that all legislative responses are accurate, approved, and aligned with the department’s mission and objectives. It is imperative that the Legislative Coordinator have access to the highest executive in their respective program area in order to accomplish these functions. Major duties and responsibilities of Legislative Coordinators include:

• Serving as the designated subject matter expert for their assigned program area maintaining a thorough understanding of the program’s operations, policies, and statutory framework.

• Assisting with the analysis of pending and enacted legislation to determine its potential impact on program operations, resources, staffing, and statutory authority. The Legislative Coordinator shall ensure that input is clear, objective, and supported by relevant and accurate data.

• Ensuring that all legislative analyses are reviewed and approved by the highest-ranking executive within their respective program area. The Legislative Coordinator is responsible for verifying that the information provided is accurate, complete, and consistent with the department’s objectives.

• Responding to all requests from OOLOffice Of Legislation through the program’s established internal review and approval process. The coordinator shall ensure timely routing to meet legislative timelines.

• Informing OOLOffice Of Legislation of any proposed or pending legislation that may affect their respective program area that OOLOffice Of Legislation is not aware of.

Changes in the law can have tremendous effects upon the Department’s policies, procedures, personnel and budget. It is vital that proposed legislation affecting the Department be identified and analyzed concerning its impact upon the Department.

Bill analysis shall be given the highest priority to maximize the amount of time thedepartment has to provide effective input into the establishment of laws impactingdepartmental operations.

Legislative measures of interest to the department shall be logged and transmitted byOOL to the appropriate program legislative coordinators for analysis. OOLOffice Of Legislation shall assignPrimary and Secondary programs for analysis. A Request for Legislative Bill Analysis shallbe attached to indicate the information requested and a due date.

• The assigned staff member shall:

  • Secure from other staff or units any information necessary to analyze the bill.

  • Ensure the bill analysis is completed by the due date and meets format and content standards.

  • Inform OOLOffice Of Legislation of unusual circumstances that preclude completion of the bill analysis bythe due date.

  • Forward the completed bill analysis to the appropriate Director or Deputy Director.

• The appropriate Director or Deputy Director shall review the bill analysis before it issent to OOLOffice Of Legislation.

The due date for analysis will be communicated by OOLOffice Of Legislation and programs shall provide responses within the timeframe provided to ensure legislative deadlines are met.

A bill analysis is prepared and submitted on the bill analysis template provided by OOLOffice Of Legislation. The template contains directions on how to include each required section of the analysis.

OOLOffice Of Legislation will send Legislative Implementation Plan Summaries to affected program areas so that they may develop implementation plans to ensure departmental operations are brought into compliance with new law by the required effective date. Additionally, the affected program areas are responsible for taking all appropriate steps to implement these plans prior to the statutorily required deadline.

All Legislative Implementation Plan Summaries require the approval and signature of the respective program Director before being sent to OOLOffice Of Legislation by the required deadline.

The Department is required to prepare a variety of reports for the Legislature. These reports may be in response to statutory requirements, budget control language, or committee requests.

OOLOffice Of Legislation in collaboration with other program areas, shall be responsible for identifying the various reports needed.

• Each fall

  • As part of its annual review of legislative actions affecting the department and assignments for implementing new statutes, program areas shall be assigned responsibility for preparing legislative reports that fall under their purview. The program designated shall be responsible for preparing the necessary reports and ensuring that reports are submitted to OOLOffice Of Legislation in a timely fashion to ensure the report can be submitted to the Legislature.

  • Any program made responsible to prepare a report through any other means shall inform the Assistant Secretary, OOLOffice Of Legislation, so the assignment can be reviewed; another assignment made, if appropriate; and the report completed in ample time to transmit the report in a timely manner.

Legislative reports shall cite the statute requiring submission. If the requirement is uncodified, the report shall include the bill number that requires the report. Reports required in Supplemental Reporting Language shall be submitted to the Budget Management Branch.

All legislative reports shall include a cover letter on CDCRCalifornia Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation letterhead with a signature block for the Division Director. OOLOffice Of Legislation shall handle submission of the report to the Legislature after receiving the signed letter.

The cover letters shall be addressed to the proper stakeholders and formatted according to the template provided by OOLOffice Of Legislation.

The final draft of a legislative report is due to OOLOffice Of Legislation no later than five business daysprior to the statutorily required submission date.

Each year, OOLOffice Of Legislation will solicit legislative concepts from program areas including field andheadquarters staff to propose statutory changes that address issues affecting thedepartment.

Proposals are submitted as legislative concepts, which are developed into legislative proposals, vetted through OOLOffice Of Legislation, presented to the Secretary, and, if approved, proposed to the Governor’s Office for consideration.

All legislative concepts from programs shall be submitted and approved by the appropriate chain of command, up to, and including, the Undersecretary with authority over the program area.

Proposed legislation shall be submitted through the Legislative Concept template provided each year by OOLOffice Of Legislation.

The Assistant Secretary, OOLOffice Of Legislation, or designee, shall ensure that the contents of this section are accurate and current.