SECTIONS 14770-14775 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 14770-14775

14770. The director shall establish and staff an activity within
the department to be known as the "forms management center" for the
orderly design, implementation and maintenance of a statewide forms
management program.

14771. (a) The director, through the forms management center, shall
do all of the following:
(1) Establish a State Forms Management Program for all state
agencies, and provide assistance in establishing internal forms
management capabilities.
(2) Study, develop, coordinate and initiate forms of interagency
and common administrative usage, and establish basic state design and
specification criteria to effect the standardization of public-use
forms.
(3) Provide assistance to state agencies for economical forms
design and forms artwork composition and establish and supervise
control procedures to prevent the undue creation and reproduction of
public-use forms.
(4) Provide assistance, training, and instruction in forms
management techniques to state agencies, forms management
representatives, and departmental forms coordinators, and provide
direct administrative and forms management assistance to new state
organizations as they are created.
(5) Maintain a central cross index of public-use forms to
facilitate the standardization of these forms, to eliminate redundant
forms, and to provide a central source of information on the usage
and availability of forms.
(6) Utilize appropriate procurement techniques to take advantage
of competitive bidding, consolidated orders, and contract procurement
of forms, and work directly with the Office of State Publishing
toward more efficient, economical and timely procurement, receipt,
storage, and distribution of state forms.
(7) Coordinate the forms management program with the existing
state archives and records management program to ensure timely
disposition of outdated forms and related records.
(8) Conduct periodic evaluations of the effectiveness of the
overall forms management program and the forms management practices
of the individual state agencies, and maintain records which indicate
net dollar savings which have been realized through centralized
forms management.
(9) Develop and promulgate rules and standards to implement the
overall purposes of this section.
(10) Create and maintain by July 1, 1986, a complete and
comprehensive inventory of public-use forms in current use by the
state.
(11) Establish and maintain, by July 1, 1986, an index of all
public-use forms in current use by the state.
(12) Assign, by January 1, 1987, a control number to all
public-use forms in current use by the state.
(13) Establish a goal to reduce the existing burden of state
collections of public information by 30 percent by July 1, 1987, and
to reduce that burden by an additional 15 percent by July 1, 1988.
(14) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, including, but
not limited to, Section 14774, provide notice to state agencies,
forms management representatives, and departmental forms
coordinators, that in the usual course of reviewing and revising all
public-use forms that refer to or use the terms spouse, husband,
wife, father, mother, marriage, or marital status, that appropriate
references to state-registered domestic partner, parent, or
state-registered domestic partnership are to be included.
(15) Delegate implementing authority to state agencies where the
delegation will result in the most timely and economical method of
accomplishing the responsibilities set forth in this section.
The director, through the forms management center, may require any
agency to revise any public-use form which the director determines
is inefficient.
(b) Due to the need for tax forms to be available to the public on
a timely basis, all tax forms, including returns, schedules,
notices, and instructions prepared by the Franchise Tax Board for
public use in connection with its administration of the Personal
Income Tax Law, Senior Citizens Property Tax Assistance and
Postponement Law, Bank and Corporation Tax Law, and the Political
Reform Act of 1974 and the State Board of Equalization's
administration of county assessment standards, state-assessed
property, timber tax, sales and use tax, hazardous substances tax,
alcoholic beverage tax, cigarette tax, motor vehicle fuel license
tax, use fuel tax, energy resources surcharge, emergency telephone
users surcharge, insurance tax, and universal telephone service tax
shall be exempt from subdivision (a), and, instead, each board shall
do all of the following:
(1) Establish a goal to standardize, consolidate, simplify,
efficiently manage, and, where possible, reduce the number of tax
forms.
(2) Create and maintain, by July 1, 1986, a complete and
comprehensive inventory of tax forms in current use by the board.
(3) Establish and maintain, by July 1, 1986, an index of all tax
forms in current use by the board.
(4) Report to the Legislature, by January 1, 1987, on its progress
to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of all tax forms.
(c) The director, through the forms management center, shall
develop and maintain, by December 31, 1995, an ongoing master
inventory of all nontax reporting forms required of businesses by
state agencies, including a schedule for notifying each state agency
of the impending expiration of certain report review requirements
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 14775.

14772. Each state agency shall appoint a forms management
representative and provide necessary assistance to implement the
State Forms Management Program within the agency.

14773. "State agency" as used in this chapter does not include
educational institutions.

14774. This chapter shall not apply to any state form with
provisions specifically authorized and established by statute.

14775. (a) By June 30, 1995, each state agency shall inventory all
reports and forms it requires businesses to complete and submit in
order to comply with agency requirements. As part of this inventory,
each state agency shall eliminate all forms it determines are no
longer needed to enable the agency to carry out its statutory
responsibilities. By June 30, 1995, each state agency shall submit
this inventory to the Director of General Services in order to enable
the director to carry out his or her responsibilities under
subdivision (c) of Section 14771.
(b) Commencing December 31, 1995, and annually thereafter, each
state agency shall review one-third of the reports and forms it
requires businesses to submit for compliance purposes, so that each
report or form is reviewed on a triennial basis. Upon review, a
report or form shall be eliminated unless the agency head certifies
that each reporting requirement meets all of the following criteria:
(1) The continued reporting requirement is necessary for the
agency to meet specifically identified statutory responsibilities.
(2) The agency has authority to require the report.
(3) The report is not duplicatory of, or in conflict with, other
reports required of business by the agency or other agencies of state
government.
(4) The information cannot be obtained in a more cost-effective
manner.
(5) The agency actually reviewed, and is actively using, the
information obtained in the previous reports required of business.
(c) If an agency head certifies that a reporting requirement meets
the criteria specified in subdivision (b), any business required to
comply with that requirement may, consistent with Section 8526,
appeal that certification to the Office of Administrative Hearings.
(d) Notwithstanding Section 14773, this section shall apply to all
state agencies as defined in Section 11000.
(e) This section shall not apply to any report or form required by
statute, any regulation adopted pursuant to the Administrative
Procedure Act (Ch. 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340), Pt. 1), or
any judicial or administrative order.
(f) This section shall not be construed to eliminate any
requirement imposed on a state agency to comply with the rulemaking
portion of the Administrative Procedure Act (Ch. 3.5 (commencing with
Section 11340), Pt. 1).