BILL ANALYSIS AB 1921 Page 1 ASSEMBLY THIRD READING AB 1921 (Davis) As Introduced February 16, 2010 2/3 vote ELECTIONS 7-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Fong, Adams, Bill | | | | |Berryhill, Coto, Mendoza, | | | | |Saldana, Swanson | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Allows Santa Clara and Ventura Counties and the City of Long Beach to participate in an ongoing pilot project that allows certain local jurisdictions to permit statements of economic interests (SEIs) to be filed electronically. FISCAL EFFECT : Keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : According to the author, "Assembly Bill 2607 (Davis) provided Los Angeles, Orange, Merced and Stanislaus Counties with the ability to participate in a pilot program to provide constituents with the option of filing their Form 700 Statement of Economic Interests using a secure electronic template. The program provides a safe, cost-effective and workload-reducing option for the filer to utilize to fulfill their annual filing obligation. Assembly Bill 1921 would add Santa Clara and Ventura Counties, as well as the City of Long Beach, to the existing pilot project. These entities are prepared to administer the electronic filing option immediately, and require legislative action to provide them the avenue needed to officially launch their programs. The language in AB 1921 will provide the referenced entities with an additional year of financial and workload savings." As part of the Political Reform Act's (PRA's) comprehensive scheme to prevent conflicts of interest by state and local public officials, existing law identifies certain elected and other high-level state and local officials who must file SEIs. Similarly, candidates for those positions must file SEIs. Other state and local public officials and employees are required to file SEIs if the position they hold is designated in an agency's AB 1921 Page 2 conflict of interest code. A position is designated in an agency's conflict of interest code when the position entails the making or participation in the making of governmental decisions that may foreseeably have a material financial effect on the decision maker's financial interests. While the exact number of people that are required to file SEIs is unknown, the FPPC previously has estimated that the number exceeds 130,000 officials and employees statewide. The information that must be disclosed on an SEI, and the location at which an SEI is filed, varies depending on the position held by the individual who is required to file an SEI. Although there are some exceptions, individuals who are required to file an SEI typically must file that document with the agency of which they are an elected official or by which they are employed. AB 2607 (Davis), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2008, established a pilot project which permits Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, and Stanislaus Counties to permit the electronic filing of an SEI in accordance with regulations adopted by the FPPC. AB 1149 (Davis), Chapter 139, Statutes of 2009, made two minor changes to that pilot project. The pilot project began in 2009 for SEIs filed for the 2008 calendar year, and is scheduled to conclude with SEIs filed for the 2010 calendar year. The Legislative Analyst is required to provide a report to the Legislature by February 1, 2012 evaluating the pilot program. This bill seeks to add two additional counties (Santa Clara and Ventura) and a city (Long Beach) to the ongoing pilot project that was created by AB 2607. It is fairly uncommon for the participants in a pilot project to be changed after the pilot project has already begun, in part because such a modification may make it difficult to evaluate the impacts of the pilot program. If this bill is approved and the three entities that are authorized to participate in the pilot project by this bill do participate, those three entities will be participating for just one (2010) of the three filing years (2008, 2009, 2010) covered by the pilot project. Additionally, individuals who are required to file SEIs in Santa Clara and Ventura Counties and in the City of Long Beach had to file a paper copy of their SEI for the 2009 calendar year, would have the option of filing electronically for the 2010 calendar year, but then would be required to file a paper copy again for the 2011 calendar year, AB 1921 Page 3 absent additional legislative action. California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the Fair Political Practices Commission and codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill, must further the purposes of the initiative and require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature. Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0004143