California Squeeze: The Red-Tape Mummy : Sacramento offers three very helpful bills--but one lulu

Untangling red tape isn’t easy, especially when California is so wrapped up in it that it can barely breathe. But, finally--and to their considerable credit--Sacramento lawmakers have launched the great mummy-unwrapping effort. If they are successful, suffocating businesses will gain relief, people will look to the Capitol with greater respect and the state’s economy will benefit.

The monstrous tangle of government rules makes it difficult and costly for entrepreneurs and companies to set up shop or expand in California. Costly duplicative filings, processing delays, rising fees and permit delays all serve to give the state a reputation of inhospitality to business. These problems as well as the need to reform the insane workers’ compensation system have been cited repeatedly by groups--especially the Governor’s Council on California Competitiveness, the Assembly Democratic Economic Prosperity Team (ADEPT) and the Senate Republican Caucus--as a major reason it’s so tough to do business here.

A slew of bills aimed at improving the state’s business climate is making its way through Sacramento committees and chambers. In addition to Senate and Assembly versions of a workers’ comp reform bill, headed toward conference committee, four measures warrant special attention. Three help to streamline or clarify regulations, while keeping intact the substance and intent of the rules. One puts needless burdens on business.

THE RIGHT WAY: A step in the right direction is SB 1082, authored by Sen. Charles M. Calderon (D-Whittier). The bill would unite in one program the requirements of no less than seven regulatory programs. These were established by the state hazardous waste control law, the underground storage tank law, the Hazardous Material Storage and Emergency Response Act, the Acutely Hazardous Materials Risk Management Act, the community right to know laws, the Uniform Fire Code, and the California Above Ground Storage Tank Act. An ombudsman office to hear out business would be established in the Trade and Commerce Agency, and it would be required to review the economic impact of regulations.

Another bill aimed at streamlining is SB 919, by Sen. Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena). It would revise the California Environmental Quality Act to eliminate duplicative processes and reduce delays without sacrificing the act’s substantive provisions.

And to encourage business, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) has introduced AB 1313, which would exempt manufacturing equipment and machines from sales and use taxes. California is one of only eight states that tax such devices. This makes California less attractive for new plants and expansions.

THE WRONG WAY: A truly clunky bill is SB 1005. It would expand duties of the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (Cal-OSHA) and place new user fees on business to underwrite the state’s share of Cal-OSHA funding, which now comes out of the general fund. The bill would also require employers to hold special back injury prevention training if two or more such injuries occurred in a year. Employers with 11 or more workers would be required to provide for employer-employee safety and health committees even if they already had good systems for coping with these issues. The bill is an all too typical example of state over-regulation--very well-intentioned but ultimately misguided.

Three bills would help the state’s business environment; SB 1005 definitely would not.