BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                       



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                  AB 1585|
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 1585
          Author:   Assembly Accountability & Administrative Review  
          Committee
          Amended:  1/6/10 in Senate
          Vote:     27 - Urgency

           
           SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORG. COMMITTEE  :  9-0, 1/12/10
          AYES:  Wright, Calderon, Denham, Florez, Negrete McLeod,  
            Oropeza, Padilla, Price, Wyland

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 77-0, 9/2/09 - See last page for vote


           SUBJECT  :    State government:  reporting requirements

           SOURCE  :     Author


           DIGEST  :    This bill deletes hundreds of obsolete reports  
          and revises the procedure for mandatory reporting  
          requirements by state agencies.

           ANALYSIS  :    Existing law requires or requests various  
          state and local agencies to submit reports on specified  
          topics to the Legislature, the Governor, or both.

          Existing law requires a report that is to be made to the  
          members of either house of the Legislature to instead be  
          submitted to the Legislative Counsel, the Secretary of the  
          Senate, and Chief Clerk of the Assembly and a hard copy  
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          summary sent to each member of the Legislature.

          Each of these reports is required to include a summary of  
          its contents, which the Legislative Counsel is required to  
          provide to each member of the appropriate house of the  
          Legislature.

          Existing law also requires the Legislative Counsel 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.

          This bill:

          1.Provides that any bill 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, a committee or office of either house of the  
            Legislature, or Legislative Counsel must include a  
            provision repealing or making inoperative the operating  
            requirement no later than a date four years following the  
            operative date of the bill or four years after the date  
            of any report required every four or more years.   
            (Reports are due on different schedules [e.g., two,  
            three, four or even five and ten year cycles].  This  
            sunset requirement is intended to ensure that a report  
            due, for example, every five years will not be repealed  
            until four or more years after the due date in order to  
            provide ample time to effect obtaining the information  
            via budget or legislative means.

          2.Requires Legislative Counsel, in drafting a bill that  
            imposes 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 directs Legislative Counsel to do otherwise,  
            as specified.

          3.Modifies an existing provision of law that requires  
            Legislative Counsel to prepare and publish annually a  
            list of all reports that state and local agencies are  







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            required or requested by law to prepare and file with the  
            Governor or the Legislature to, instead, require  
            Legislative Counsel to annually prepare and maintain an  
            "electronic list" (list) of all such reports, including  
            updating the list by removing obsolete or duplicate  
            reports, as directed by this bill, or a subsequent  
            statute that further requires Legislative Counsel to  
            remove reports included in the list.

          4.Provides that any report required or requested by law to  
            be submitted by a state or local agency to the members of  
            either house of the Legislature must, instead, be  
            submitted as a printed copy to Legislative Counsel and to  
            both the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of  
            the Assembly as "electronic copies."  Also requires an  
            agency to provide a one-page electronic summary directly  
            to each m ember of the Legislature rather than a full  
            copy now that reports are available electronically.

          5.Declares that the requirement to delete a report pursuant  
            to this bill shall not prohibit Legislative Counsel 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  
            report was required to be completed and filed was four or  
            more years after the initial report is submitted.

          7.Authorizes Legislative Counsel to direct public inquiries  
            for reports to the appropriate state agency or to the  
            California State Library as the final repository of  
            public information.

          8.Contains a listing of existing reports, as specified,  
            identified as obsolete to be deleted by Legislative  
            Counsel.

           Comments

           According to the Senate Governmental Organization Committee  
          analysis, this bill (1) deletes nearly 1,500 obsolete  
          reporting requirements from the list of over 2,800 reports  
          maintained by Legislative Counsel, (2) revises the method  







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          for receiving and cataloging mandated reports, and (3)  
          requires any new report requirement to include a sunset  
          date, as specified.  More than 160 government entities,  
          including commissions and boards, are included in this  
          bill.  This bill is a result of a hearing held by the  
          Assembly Accountability and Administrative Review Committee  
          in February of 2009, examining reporting requirements of  
          state agencies and compliance in fulfilling those  
          requirements.
           
           At the time of the hearing, the Committee noted that there  
          were nearly 3,000 mandated reported due to the Legislative  
          Counsel site.  As a result of the Committee's review, staff  
          discovered that reports had been completed and submitted in  
          accordance with the law, yet Legislative Counsel had no  
          record.  The Committee also found reports that were  
          deferred during funding moratoriums listed as due.   
          Additionally, the Committee found duplicate listings for  
          the same reports.  Furthermore, the Committee encountered  
          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 so they are doing  
          the reports.

          An example of an obsolete report is one required annually  
          by the Secretary of State to report to the Governor  
          disclosing all expenditures and activities from the  
          previous year.  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 also reports still required relative  
          to Y2K.  There are reports still required relative to the  
          1976 spike in gas prices.

          The Committee estimates a savings of $5 - $8 million that  
          can be redirected into the core mission of the affected  
          agencies.

          NOTE:  Please refer to the Senate Governmental Organization  
          Committee
                       analysis for additional information regarding  
          this subject.








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           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  : 
          AYES:  Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill  
            Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,  
            Brownley, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro,  
            Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore,  
            Duvall, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,  
            Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,  
            Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,  
            Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,  
            Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,  
            Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel  
            Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,  
            Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,  
            Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Buchanan, Hall, Vacancy


          TSM:cm  1/20/10   Senate Floor Analyses 

                       SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  NONE RECEIVED

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