BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



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          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AB 1585 (Accountability and Administrative Review Committee)
          As Introduced  July 9, 2009
          2/3 vote.  Urgency 

           BUSINESS & PROFESSIONS           10-0                
          APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Hayashi, Emmerson,        |Ayes:|De Leon, Conway, Ammiano, |
          |     |Conway, Eng, Hernandez,   |     |                          |
          |     |Nava, Niello,             |     |Charles Calderon, Coto,   |
          |     |John A. Perez, Ruskin,    |     |Davis,                    |
          |     |Smyth                     |     |Fuentes, Hall, Harkey,    |
          |     |                          |     |Miller,                   |
          |     |                          |     |Nielsen, John A. Perez,   |
          |     |                          |     |Skinner,                  |
          |     |                          |     |Solorio, Audra            |
          |     |                          |     |Strickland, Torlakson,    |
          |     |                          |     |Hill                      |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Revises the procedure for mandatory and voluntary  
          reporting requirements and deletes obsolete reports.   
          Specifically,  this bill  :

       1)Authorizes the Legislative Counsel Bureau (LC) to refer a  
            requester of an agency report to the California State Library  
            as the final repository of public information.

       2)Requires bills introduced or amended in either house of the  
            Legislature requiring a state agency to submit a report on any  
            subject to either house of the Legislature or LC to include a  
            provision repealing or making inoperative the reporting  
            requirement no later than a date four years following the date  
            upon which bill is in enacted, commencing on and after January  
            1, 2010, as specified.

       3)Requires LC, in drafting a bill for introduction or amendments  
            imposing a reporting requirement to include a provision that  
            repeals or makes obsolete the reporting requirement, four  
            years after the date on which the requirement becomes  
            operative, unless the person requesting the bill or amendment  








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            directs LC to do otherwise, as specified.

       4)Requires LC to maintain and update an electronic list (list) of  
            all reports that state and local agencies are required to  
            prepare and file with the Governor or Legislature, as  
            specified, removing obsolete or duplicate reports from the  
            list, and as directed by this bill, or a subsequent statute  
            that further requires LC to remove reports included in the  
            list.

       5)States that the requirement to delete a report pursuant to this  
            bill shall not prohibit LC from including the report on a  
            future publication of the list, if the report is required by  
            law to be listed.

       6)Defines "obsolete report" to mean a report that has not been  
            completed and filed and for which the date that the report was  
            required to be completed and files was four or more years in  
            the past.

       7)Requires LC to delete approximately 1,200 reports from the list.

          8)  Contains an urgency clause, allowing this bill to take  
          effect immediately upon enactment. 
           



          EXISTING LAW  requires:

          1)Or requests various state and local agencies to submit reports  
            on specified topics to the Legislature, the Governor, or both.

          2)A report that is to be made to the Members of either house of  
            the Legislature to instead be submitted to LC, the Secretary  
            of the Senate, and Chief Clerk of the Assembly.

          3)LC to prepare and publish a list of all the reports that state  
            and local agencies are required to submit, and upon request,  
            to provide aid and assistance to any Member of the Legislature  
            with respect to a bill, resolution, or measure, including  
            drafting a bill into its proper form.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  








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          Committee:

          1)Minor, absorbable costs for the workload associated with LC  
            updating the current list and flagging future listings with a  
            four-year sunset date.
           
          2)The majority of the reports listed in the bill are obsolete or  
            are not being produced by the departments, therefore any  
            savings associated with this legislation will likely be minor.  
             To the extent any of the reports on this listed are currently  
            being produced however, there could be minor General Fund or  
            special fund workload savings for the affected departments.

           COMMENTS  :  This bill, authored by the Assembly Accountability  
          and Administrative Review Committee (Committee), revises the  
          method for receiving and cataloging mandated and voluntary  
          reports by LC and deletes more than 1,200 obsolete reporting  
          requirements from the list of reports maintained by LC.  More  
          than 160 governmental entities, spanning from agencies,  
          commissions, and boards, are included in this bill.  This bill  
          is a result of a hearing held by the Committee in February of  
          2009, examining reporting requirements of state agencies and  
          compliance in fulfilling those requirements.

          A Web site is maintained by LC pursuant to the requirements of  
          Government Code Section 10242.5 which named LC as the repository  
          for all legislative reports.  Government Code Section requires  
          state and local agencies to submit reports to LC, the Secretary  
          of the Senate, and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly.  To fulfill  
          this requirement, agencies send hard copies or electronic copies  
          of reports to LC.  

          When a report is received by the LC, the title, date received  
          and an URL for the report (if provided by the agency) are  
          entered on the Agency Reports Web site.  Hard copies of reports  
          are then sent to the Government Publications Section of the  
          State Library for cataloging and retention.  Electronic copies  
          are sent via email to the Government Publications Section of the  
          State Library where they are printed, cataloged and retained. 

          Each report must include a one-page summary of its contents,  
          which LC is required to distribute to each member of the  
          appropriate house of the Legislature within two working days of  
          its receipt.  Notice of receipt shall also be recorded in the  








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          journal of the appropriate house.

          The Web site (  http://www.agencyreports.ca.gov/  ) contains a list  
          of all reports that state and local agencies are required or  
          requested by law to prepare and file with the Governor, the  
          Legislature, or both, in the future or within the preceding  
          year. 

          LC staff review chaptered bills, ballot propositions passed at  
          elections, and the Legislative Analyst's Supplemental Report of  
          the Budget to determine new report requirements and changes to  
          report requirements.  The Web site is updated accordingly.

          The Committee states, "Unfortunately, all this only works when a  
          report is completed if it is sent to Legislative Counsel.  It  
          does not work when the report is given solely to the committee  
          or legislator that requested it although it is complete.  The  
          public never sees the information unless it is provided to  
          Legislative Counsel which records it and forwards it to the  
          State Library.

          "There is no way to know which reports were not completed due to  
          a moratorium, as there was no requirement for Legislative  
          Counsel to be advised.  As a result, the records mean almost  
          nothing when the public goes to the web site to see what reports  
          are due and what reports are completed.

          "At the time of our hearing, there were nearly 3,000 mandated  
          reports due according to the Legislative Counsel site.  In our  
          review, we found reports had been completed and submitted in  
          accordance with the law yet Legislative Counsel had no record.   
          We found reports that were deferred during funding moratoriums  
          listed as due.  We found duplicate listings for the same  
          reports.  We found reports listed as due annually that have not  
          been done for years because the program is no longer in  
          existence or it is not funded, or the responsible department  
          knows it is no longer wanted but the requirement remains.

          "The best example is a report required annually by the Secretary  
          of State to report to the Governor disclosing all expenditures  
          and activities.  The last time the report was completed was in  
          1936 and it lists the number of reams of colored voting paper  
          purchased, and other elements no longer considered relevant.   
          There are reports still required relative to Y2K.  There are  








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          reports still required relative to the 1979 Arab oil embargo."

           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Rebecca May / B. & P. / (916) 319-3301 


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