1. (a) Subject to the approval of OAL as provided in subsections (c) and (d), an agency may add to, revise or delete text published in the California Code of Regulations without complying with the rulemaking procedure specified in article 5 of the APA only if the change does not materially alter any requirement, right, responsibility, condition, prescription or other regulatory element of any California Code of Regulations provision. Subject to the approval of OAL, the Department of Social Services may add to, revise or delete text published in the department Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP) without complying with the rulemaking procedure specified in article 5 of the APA only if the change does not materially alter any requirement, right, responsibility, condition, prescription or other regulatory element of the MPP. The addition, revision or deletion is a “change without regulatory effect.” Changes without regulatory effect may include, but are not limited to:

   1. (1) renumbering, reordering, or relocating a regulatory provision;
   2. (2) deleting a regulatory provision for which all statutory or constitutional authority has been repealed;
   3. (3) deleting a regulatory provision held invalid in a judgment that has become final, entered by a California court of competent jurisdiction, a United States District Court located in the State of California, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, or the United States Supreme Court; however, OAL shall not approve any proposed change without regulatory effect if the change is based on a superior court decision which invalidated the regulatory provision solely on the grounds that the underlying statute was unconstitutional;
   4. (4) revising structure, syntax, cross-reference, grammar, or punctuation;
   5. (5) changing an “authority” or “reference” citation for a regulation; and,

   6. (6) making a regulatory provision consistent with a changed California statute if both of the following conditions are met:

      1. (A) the regulatory provision is inconsistent with and superseded by the changed statute, and
      2. (B) the adopting agency has no discretion to adopt a change which differs in substance from the one chosen.

2. (b) For all changes without regulatory effect submitted to OAL for review, the agency must:

   1. (1) Prepare a written statement explaining why the change does not materially alter any requirement, right, responsibility, condition, prescription or other regulatory element of any California Code of Regulations provision; and either
   2. (2) Submit one hard copy of the statement along with hard copies of all documents described in section 6, subsection (a); or

   3. (3) Submit one electronic copy of the statement along with electronic copies of all documents described in section 6.5, subsection (a)(1).

      1. (A) The agency must submit all electronic documents described in subsection (b)(3) to OAL in accordance with section 6.5, subsection (b).

      2. (B) OAL will consider electronic changes without regulatory effect received after 5:00 p.m. on a working day, or at any time on a weekend or holiday, to be submitted on the following working day.

         1. 1. Within one working day of electronic receipt of the submission, OAL will move the documents from the “Submission of Actions” folder and email a time-stamped Form 400 that includes the assigned regulatory action number to the email address used to upload the documents and, if provided by the agency, the email address of the agency contact listed on the Form 400. After moving the documents from the “Submission of Actions” folder, OAL will delete the folder created pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) of section 6.5.
3. (c) OAL shall determine whether a change submitted is a change without regulatory effect within 30 working days of its receipt. OAL shall send written notification of the determination to the agency which submitted the changes.

4. (d) If OAL determines that the submitted change is a change without regulatory effect, OAL shall file it with the Secretary of State and have it published in the California Code of Regulations. If the change without regulatory effect is a change to the MPP, OAL shall file the change with the Secretary of State and the Department of Social Services shall publish the change in the MPP.

   1. (1) After OAL has taken action on the submission, OAL will return the regulatory text and written statement to the agency by uploading the documents to the “Returned Actions” folder of the agency's designated document library of the OAL eSubmissions Portal.

      1. (A) OAL will upload the documents to a folder with a name matching the subject of the regulations listed in section B.1a. of the Form 400.
      2. (B) After uploading the documents to the “Returned Actions” folder, OAL will send an email to the email address used to upload the submission indicating the documents are ready to be downloaded by the agency.
      3. (C) The agency must download the returned documents within forty-five calendar days of notification by OAL, after which OAL will delete the documents from the “Returned Actions” folder.

Note: Authority cited: Sections 11342.4 and 11349.1, Government Code. Reference: Sections 11342.600, 11343.8, 11344.6 and 11346, Government Code.

History

1. New section filed 1-2-86; effective upon filing pursuant to Government Code section 11346.2(d) (Register 86, No. 1).

2. Change without regulatory effect pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations adding quotation marks around “Changes Without Regulatory Effect” in the section heading; substituting “California Code of Regulations” for “California Administrative Code” in subsections (b), (b)(1) and (b)(2); and substituting “11349.1(c)” for “11349.1(b)” in the Note filed 1-5-89; operative 1-5-89 (Register 89, No. 3).

3. Editorial correction of History 2 (Register 89, No. 12).

4. Change without regulatory effect amending section filed 7-25-90 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations; operative 7-25-90 (Register 90, No. 38).

5. Change without regulatory effect pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations adding new subsection (a); redesignating subsections (a), (b) and (c) as new subsections (c), (d) and (b) respectively; adding the word “calendar” to redesignated subsection (c); and changing “face sheet” to “Form 400” in subsection (b)(2) filed 3-25-92; operative upon filing (Register 92, No. 19)

6. Amendment filed 5-18-94; operative 5-18-94 (Register 94, No. 20).

7. Editorial correction of subsection (d) and History 4 and 5 (Register 94, No. 23).

8. Change without regulatory effect pursuant to Section 100, Title 1, California Code of Regulations deleting “s” from the second “changes” in subsection (d) and adding “11342(g),” to the reference citation under “Note.” Filed 1-3-95; operative upon filing (Register 95, No. 1).

9. Amendment of subsections (a) and (d) filed 1-8-99; operative 2-7-99 (Register 99, No. 2).

10. Change without regulatory effect amending Note filed 10-29-2002 pursuant to section 100, title 1, California Code of Regulations (Register 2002, No. 44).

11. Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-40-20 (2019 CA EO 40-20), dated March 30, 2020, which extends certain deadlines relating to the review of regulations and emergency regulations, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

12. Amendment of subsections (a) and (b), repealer of subsections (b)(1)-(3), new subsections (b)(1)-(b)(3)(C) and amendment of Note filed 7-6-2020 as an emergency; operative 7-6-2020 (Register 2020, No. 28). Expiration date of emergency extended 60 days (Executive Order N-40-20) plus an additional 60 days (Executive Order N-66-20) (Register 2020, No. 28). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 5-4-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

13. Amendment of subsections (a) and (b), repealer of subsections (b)(1)-(3), new subsections (b)(1)-(b)(3)(C) and amendment of Note refiled 5-5-2021 as an emergency; operative 5-5-2021. Emergency expiration extended 60 days (Executive Order N-40-20) plus an additional 60 days (Executive Order N-71-20) (Register 2021, No. 19). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 12-3-2021 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

14. Amendment of subsections (a) and (b), repealer of subsections (b)(1)-(3), new subsections (b)(1)-(b)(3)(C) and amendment of Note refiled 12-3-2021 as an emergency; operative 12-4-2021 (Register 2021, No. 49). A Certificate of Compliance must be transmitted to OAL by 3-4-2022 or emergency language will be repealed by operation of law on the following day.

15. Certificate of Compliance as to 12-3-2021 order, including amendment of subsections (a) and (b)(3)(A), repealer of former subsection (b)(3)(B), new subsections (b)(3)(B)-(b)(3)(C) and subsection relettering, transmitted to OAL 3-4-2022 and filed 4-18-2022; amendments operative 4-18-2022 pursuant to Government Code section 11343.4(b)(3) (Register 2022, No. 16).

16. Amendment of subsection (b)(3)(A), repealer of subsections (b)(3)(A)1.-(b)(3)(C), subsection relettering and amendment of newly designated subsection (b)(3)(B) and new subsections (b)(3)(B)1. and (d)(1)-(d)(1)(C) filed 2-4-2026; operative 4-1-2026 (Register 2026, No. 6).