Opinion ID: 427079
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: compliance with the california apa

Text: 5 Defendants do not dispute that in revising Chapter 4600 the prison administration did not follow the procedures set forth in the California APA. Although it is difficult to determine from the briefs filed by the state officials precisely what points they are trying to make on appeal, they seem to be arguing that detailed rules, as distinguished from general regulations, are for some unexplained reason exempt from the requirements of the APA. They also seem to be arguing that section 3190 of Title 15 of the California Administrative Code, which was promulgated in compliance with the APA, delegates to the Director the power to establish guidelines without following the strictures of the APA. Cal.Admin.Code tit. XV, Sec. 3190 (1977). 1 They claim that nothing in the California statutes, regulations, or case law prevents such a delegation to deal with a situation that must be addressed in minute detail, or that requires variety of treatment among institutions. We find the state's position wholly without merit. 6 The California Penal Code plainly requires that the Director comply with the strictures of the APA whenever he prescribes or amends rules and regulations for the administration of prisons. Cal.Penal Code Sec. 5058(a) (West 1980). The APA defines regulation as 7 every rule, regulation, order or standard of general application or the amendment, supplement or revision of any such 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. 8 Cal. Gov't Code Sec. 11342(b) (West 1980). The APA provides for only two exceptions--one for regulations relating only to the internal management of the state agency and one for forms prescribed by the agency or instructions relating to the use of the forms. Id. 9 Any argument that revised Chapter 4600 is not a regulation, or that it falls within one of the two exceptions provided for in the APA, is foreclosed by the California Court of Appeals' recent decision in Stoneham v. Rushen, 137 Cal.App.3d 729, 188 Cal.Rptr. 130 (1982). In that case, prison inmates challenged the standardization of the system used by the Department of Corrections to classify inmates for purposes of determining which prison they should be assigned to. The court found that the Department was required to follow the procedures set forth in the APA because the new scheme embod[ies] ... a rule of general application significantly affecting the ... prison population. Id. at 736, 188 Cal.Rptr. 130. Because revised Chapter 4600 fits that description precisely, Stoneham leaves appellants no room to argue that these rules are beyond the scope of the APA as it has been interpreted by the California courts. 10 Appellants urge us to read into California law a third exception to the requirements of the APA. They argue that, when the Director feels that a problem must be dealt with flexibly or in minute detail, he should be able to delegate to himself, by means of a properly promulgated regulation, the power to deal with the problem without following the APA procedures. We agree with the district court that California law permits no such delegation. 2 11 Appellants cite no authority for their somewhat unusual theory. We find no reason to believe that California allows its agencies to avoid following the procedures state law requires them to follow simply by delegating to themselves the power to ignore those procedures. Were we to create the exception to the APA suggested by the prison authorities we would strip the statutory requirement that regulations be promulgated pursuant to the APA of all its force. Moreover, the structure and language of the APA is wholly inconsistent with appellants' theory. The express inclusion of two exceptions in the statute suggests strongly that further exceptions are not available. More importantly, the very terms of the definition of regulation--including as they do the amendment, supplement, or revisions of rules, regulations, orders or standards to implement, interpret, or make specific the law enforced or administered, Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 11342(b) (West 1980) (emphasis supplied)--make it clear that even detailed guidelines are subject to the APA. 12 Armistead v. State Personnel Board, 22 Cal.3d 198, 200, 149 Cal.Rptr. 1, 583 P.2d 744 (1978), further demonstrates the incorrectness of appellants' view of California law. In Armistead, the California Supreme Court refused to give any deference to an administrative interpretation of an agency rule when that interpretation was not promulgated in accordance with the procedural requirements of the APA. Such a holding was necessary, the court said, in order to prevent agencies from avoiding the strictures of the APA by denominating rules as policies, interpretations, instructions, guides, standards, and the like, and by placing rules in internal organs of the agency such as manuals, memoranda, bulletins, or [directing them] to the public in the form of circulars or bulletins. Id. at 205, 149 Cal.Rptr. 1, 583 P.2d 744 (quoting Senate Interim Committee on Administrative Regulations, First Report to the 1955 Legislature, at 9). The regulations here fit that description perfectly: they are guidelines placed in the agency's manual. The court also noted the history of California state agencies' efforts to avoid their legal obligation to comply with procedural requirements before enacting regulations. It said, the manner of avoidance [of the APA] takes many forms. Id. (quoting Senate Interim Committee on Administrative Regulations, First Report to the 1955 Legislature, at 9). The argument that the Director may delegate to himself the power to adopt regulations without following the APA's procedure is simply another attempted form of avoidance. 13 Moreover, even if the asserted delegation would not be contrary to statute, in order to prevail appellants would have to show that section 3190 provides for a delegation to the Director. Appellants point to nothing in the regulation's language or history that even remotely suggests that the section was intended to create any form of self-delegation or dispense with the Director's obligation to follow the APA procedures. In fact, the language of the regulation demonstrates the contrary. By referring to guidelines provided by the director the section tacitly recognizes that the Director is obligated to follow the APA procedures. Guidelines, after all, clearly constitute standard[s] of general application within the meaning of California's definition of regulation. Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 11342(b) (West 1980). Indeed, the absence of any indication in the legislative history or in the regulation that a self-delegation was contemplated would, in itself, be sufficient to foreclose a court from finding that one exists. If it was not made clear on the face of a regulation, or in the notice, comments, and hearings, that a delegation of power was intended, the subsequent creation, by implication, of a delegation would effectively deny interested persons their right to notice, comment, and hearing with regard to the delegation.