BILL NUMBER: AB 831	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Monning

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2009

   An act to amend Section 8545.1 of the Government Code, relating to
the State Auditor.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 831, as introduced, Monning. State Auditor: confidential
records.
   Existing law prohibits the State Auditor, any current or former
employee of the Bureau of State Audits, any person or business entity
that is contracting with or has contracted with the bureau and the
current and former employees of those persons and business entities,
the officers and employees of any state or local governmental agency
or publicly created entity that has assisted the bureau in its audits
or has received specified information from the bureau for comment or
review, and any person or business entity that is contracting with
or has contracted with those state or local governmental agencies or
publicly created entities from divulging or making known to any
person not employed by the bureau, in any manner not expressly
permitted by law, any particulars of any record, document, or
information, the disclosure of which is restricted by law from
release to the public. Existing law provides that any officer,
employee, or person who violates this prohibition is guilty of a
misdemeanor.
   This bill would state that the officers and employees described
above include the officers and employees of any state or local
governmental agency or publicly created entity that is the subject of
an ongoing audit or have received information pertaining to an
ongoing audit, and clarify that the documents that may not be
released include the findings or other content of any audit or
investigative audit. The bill would also state that its provisions
are declarative of existing law.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 8545.1 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   8545.1.  (a) The State Auditor, and any employee or former
employee of the bureau, may not divulge or make known to any person
not employed by the bureau in any manner not expressly permitted by
law any particulars of any record, document, or information the
disclosure of which is restricted by law from release to the public.
This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, the restrictions on
the release of records, documents, or information set forth in
Section 8545.
   (b) Subdivision (a) also applies to:
   (1) Any person or business entity that is contracting with or has
contracted with the bureau and to the employees and former employees
of that person or business entity.
   (2) The officers and employees of  ,  and any person or
business entity that is contracting with or has contracted with 
,  any state or local governmental agency or publicly created
entity that has assisted the bureau in the course of any audit or
investigative audit or that has received a draft copy of any report
or other draft document from the bureau for comment or review. 
   (c) (1) The officers and employees described in paragraph (2) of
subdivision (b) include the officers and employees of any state or
local governmental agency or publicly created entity that is the
subject of an ongoing audit or has received information pertaining to
an ongoing audit.  
   (2) The documentation or substantive information, release of which
is prohibited in Section 8545, includes the findings or other
content of any audit or investigative report of the bureau. 

   (c) 
    (d)  Any officer, employee, or person who discloses the
particulars of any record, document, or other information in
violation of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.
  SEC. 2.  The amendment enacted by Section 1 of this act is
declarative of existing law.