The California Office of Administrative Law issues three different publications that are easily confused. However, it is useful to know the differences.
The California Code of Regulations (aka the “CCR”) is the compendium of regulations adopted by state agencies in compliance with the California Administrative Procedure Act. Thus, the CCR is the place to check for current regulations.
When a California agency proposes to adopt, amend or repeal a regulation, a notice is published in the California Regulatory Notice Register. This weekly publication is often referred to as simply the “Notice Register”. It is also known as the “Z-Register” because the issue numbers end in “z”. For example, this week’s publication is numbered 47-Z. The Notice Register also contains the OAL’s regulatory determinations and summaries of regulatory actions. Under Government Code Section 11346.4(b), a state agency must complete the rulemaking process within one year of the date of publication of a Notice of Proposed Action (“Notice”) in the Notice Register. The Notice Register is available in PDF format online. The Notice Register is where to look if you are interested in the future.
The last publication is the California Code of Regulations Supplement (aka the “CCR Supplement”). Confusingly, this publication is also commonly referred to as the “Register”. The CCR Supplement or Register is the weekly hard copy update to the CCR. The Register is useful when you are looking for an earlier version of a current regulation. Thus, this is the publication for looking up the past.
