(a) Emergency adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation by the director shall be conducted pursuant to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, except with respect to the following:

(1) Notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code, the initial effective period for an emergency adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation shall be 160 days.

(2) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code, no showing of emergency is necessary in order to adopt, amend, or repeal an emergency regulation if the director instead certifies, in a written statement filed with the Office of Administrative Law, that operational needs of the department require adoption, amendment, or repeal of the regulation on an emergency basis. The written statement shall include a description of the underlying facts and an explanation of the operational need to use the emergency rulemaking procedure. This paragraph provides an alternative to filing a statement of emergency pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code. It does not preclude filing a statement of emergency. This paragraph only applies to the initial adoption and one readoption of an emergency regulation.

(3) Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a regulation pursuant to paragraph (2) shall be reviewed by the Office of Administrative Law within 20 calendar days after its submission. In conducting its review, the Office of Administrative Law shall accept and consider public comments for the first 10 calendar days of the review period. Copies of any comments received by the Office of Administrative Law shall be provided to the department.

(4) Regulations adopted pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) are not subject to the requirements of paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 11346.1 of the Government Code.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature, in authorizing the deviations in this section from the requirements and procedures of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to authorize the department to expedite the exercise of its power to implement regulations as its unique operational circumstances require.

(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 713, Sec. 7. Effective January 1, 2007.)