​​Office Of Regulations

Welcome to the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) - Office of Regulations (OOR) website. OOR is responsible for all of DHCS's rulemaking activities. Rulemaking is the process by which regulations are developed and promulgated (adopted.) The rulemaking process is governed by the legal requirements set forth in the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) and supporting APA regulations (Not DHCS).​

​​Regulatory Proposals​​​​

Non-emergency regulatory proposals are proposed regulations that have not yet been adopted and are not yet in effect. DHCS issues a public notice announcing when proposed regulations are being made available for public comment.

Emergency regulatory proposals are regulations that have been adopted and in effect prior to a public comment period. While emergency regulations are in effect, they are made available for public comment and typically remain in effect for a limited period of 180 days. Regulations adopted on an emergency basis may still be modified in response to public comment prior to being permanently adopted.

Completed regulations are regulatory proposals that have completed the APA rulemaking process, have been filed with the Secretary of State, and are in effect.

DHCS regulations that are in effect are published in the California Code of Regulations (CCR) (Not DHCS): Title 9, Divisions 1 and 4; Title 17, Division 1; and Title 22, Divisions 2 and 3.

Public Comments

The public has the opportunity to participate in the rulemaking process through public proceedings that solicit submission of written comments to DHCS regarding both non-emergency regulatory proposals and emergency regulatory proposals. 

Summaries of the comments received and responses to those comments may be found in the Final Statement of Reasons posted on this site following completion of the APA rulemaking process for the regulations. All comments are considered equally on their merits. Written responses to each individual commenter are not prepared.  

Public Notice

The public notice for each regulation proposal provides important information, including:

  • A summary of the proposed or emergency regulatory action,
  • A list of contact people,
  • The date by which comments from the public must be received in the Office, and
  • The time and location of the public hearing, if one is scheduled.

If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to the mailing list for DHCS regulation notices, please complete the Regulation Notice Request Form​.​​ 
Last modified date: 1/5/2022 6:45 PM