(a) The Legislature finds that the time permitted the Industrial Welfare Commission to consider petitions, including, but not limited to, daily overtime compensation petitions that are to be given priority attention by the commission pursuant to Section 20 of Chapter 1083 of the Statutes of 1980, has created unanticipated and unwarranted delays in the review and possible modification of applicable commission orders. The Legislature finds further that legislation is necessary to provide redress of hardships resulting from these delays by the enactment of special commission review procedures that augment, and do not limit in any way, the rights and privileges of parties before the Industrial Welfare Commission under this chapter.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter to the contrary, if a labor organization or a trade association recognized in the health care industry files or has filed a petition with the commission that requests an amendment to an order of the commission that would directly regulate only the health care industry, the petitioner may request that the ordinary procedure established by this chapter for the review of petitions of this nature not be used and that the procedure specified in subdivisions (c) and (d) be followed instead. If the request is made by the petitioner, the commission shall be required to follow the procedure specified in subdivisions (c) and (d).

(c) Upon the filing of a request under subdivision (b), the procedure to revise an order of the commission provided in Sections 1178 to 1182, inclusive, shall be waived. In lieu of that procedure, the commission shall propose the adoption of or may reject the petition, in whole or in part, without appointing a wage board. The commission shall act on the petition within 45 days of the date the petition is originally filed. If the commission rejects the petition, it shall state its reasons for rejection.

The commission shall thereafter conduct hearings on any proposal to adopt the petition in whole or in part in the manner specified in subdivision (c) of Section 1178.5 and publish the proposed action in the manner provided in Section 1181. However, the hearings shall be conducted within 90 days of the date the petition is originally filed.

(d) Not more than 30 days following the hearings specified in subdivision (c), the commission shall take final action with respect to its proposal. No later than 15 days following final action, notice of the action taken shall be given in the manner provided for in Sections 1182.1 and 1183. Any action adopting, amending, or repealing an order of the commission pursuant to this section shall take effect 60 days following the date of this notice.

(e) Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the commission shall not adopt, amend, or repeal a proposal which has been changed from that which has originally been made available to the public, unless the change is nonsubstantive in nature and the commission complies with the procedure specified in this subdivision.

If a substantive change is made to the original proposal after the close of the public hearing, the full text of the resulting change shall be noticed within five days and made available to the public for comments for at least 10 days before the commission adopts, amends, or repeals the regulation. No later than 10 days following the close of the public comment period, the commission shall take final action with respect to its modified proposal, and give notice of that action within 10 days in the manner provided in Sections 1182.1 and 1183. In no case shall any action adopting, amending, or repealing an order take effect more than 60 days following the close of the public comment period.

(Amended by Stats. 1987, Ch. 460, Sec. 1.)