(a) In order to increase public participation and improve the quality of regulations, state agencies proposing to adopt regulations shall, prior to publication of the notice required by Section 11346.5, involve parties who would be subject to the proposed regulations in public discussions regarding those proposed regulations, when the proposed regulations involve complex proposals or a large number of proposals that cannot easily be reviewed during the comment period.
(b) This section does not apply to a state agency in any instance where that state agency is required to implement federal law and regulations for which there is little or no discretion on the part of the state to vary.
(c) If the agency does not or cannot comply with the provisions of subdivision (a), it shall state the reasons for noncompliance with reasonable specificity in the rulemaking record.
(d) The provisions of this section shall not be subject to judicial review or to the provisions of Section 11349.1.
(Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1059, Sec. 12. Effective January 1, 2001.)