6602     DEFINITION OF REGULATION 
(Revised 2/98)

Section 11342 (g) provides the following definition of “regulation”:

“Regulation” means every rule, regulation, order, or standard of general application or the amendment, supplement, or revision of any rule, regulation, order or standard adopted by any state agency to implement, interpret or make specific the law enforced or administered by it, or to govern its procedure, except one that relates only to the internal management of the state agency.  “Regulation” does not mean or include legal rulings of counsel issued by the Franchise Tax Board or State Board of Equalization, or any form prescribed by a state agency or any instructions relating to the use of the form, but this provision is not a limitation upon any requirement that a regulation be adopted pursuant to this part (i.e., the Administrative Procedures Act) when one is needed to implement the law under which the form is issued. 

Specifically, whether the action of a state agency constitutes a regulation does not depend on the designation of the agency, but on its effect and impact on the public.  When the effect of material presented in a form is to interpret, implement or make specific the law enforced or administered by the agency which issues the form, the material is a “regulation.”