In addition to the Governor, the state Constitution requires the election of seven other statewide officials. Those offices are:
California's legislature delegates authority to over 200 agencies to create regulations implementing state statutes. Regulations carry the same force of law as court decisions and legislation. But before an agency enforces any regulation, it must first be approved by the California Office of Administrative Law (OAL). Approved regulations are then filed with the Secretary of State's Office.
The California Regulatory Notice Register ("Notice Register") contains notices of proposed regulatory actions by state regulatory agencies to adopt, amend, or repeal regulations contained in the California Code of Regulations. A state agency must complete its rulemaking and submit the rulemaking file to OAL within one year of the date of publication of a Notice of Proposed Action (“Notice”) in the Notice Register. (Government Code Section 11346.4(b))
The Official California Code of Regulations (CCR) incorporates all approved regulations. Since 1990, Barclays has been the CCR's official publisher. Over 26,000 pages long, the CCR is organized into twenty-eight separate Titles. For accuracy, the CCR is amended weekly, so all approved changes are incorporated into the regulations.
What is a Regulation?
A "regulation" means every rule, regulation, order, or standard of general application or the amendment, supplement, or revision of any rule, regulation, order or standard adopted by any state agency to implement, interpret, or make specific the law enforced or administered by it, or to govern its procedure. [Government Code, section 11342.600]
No state agency shall issue, utilize, enforced, or attempt to enforce any guideline, criterion, bulletin, manual, instruction, order, standard of general application, or other rule, which is a "regulation" under the Administrative Procedures Act unless it has been adopted as a regulation and filed with the secretary of state pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act. [Government Code, section 11340.5(a)]
