BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
BILL NO: AB 23 HEARING: 6/8/11
AUTHOR: Smyth FISCAL: No
VERSION: 6/1/11 TAX LEVY: No
CONSULTANT: Ewing
COMPENSATION FOR LOCAL AGENCIES' MEETINGS
Requires local officials to announce compensation before
meetings.
Background and Existing Law
California has thousands of local agencies, including
cities, counties, school districts, and special districts.
In addition, the state and local agencies have established
numerous others councils, commissions, boards, and other
entities.
The Ralph M. Brown Act requires local agencies, including
commissions, committees, boards, and other entities
authorized by the state or local agencies, to operate in an
open and public manner, unless closed sessions are
specifically authorized. The Brown Act ensures the
public's right to witness and participate in public
meetings.
Given the diversity of local agencies, the potential for
overlapping jurisdictions, and the need to coordinate among
various entities, the membership of one legislative body
sometimes is the same as the membership of another
legislative body. For instance, the board of a county
sanitation district might be made up of county supervisors.
Former Bell city council members are under investigation
for a range of legal violations, among them, receiving
compensation for serving on multiple legislative bodies
that met concurrently or serially, for the sole purpose of
getting paid.
Proposed Law
AB 23 -- 6/1/11 -- Page 2
Assembly Bill 23 requires the clerk or a member of the
legislative body of a local agency to make a verbal
statement with regard to the compensation that would be
received by members of that legislative body, if that body
simultaneously or serially convenes another legislative
body with the same membership as the initial legislative
body. AB 23 applies to compensation and stipends, but not
reimbursements. AB 23 does not apply to compensation
established in statute if no additional compensation has
been authorized by the local agency.
State Revenue Impact
No estimate.
Comments
1. Purpose of the bill . Assembly Bill 23 enhances the
transparency of local compensation policies when officials
serve on multiple, overlapping entities. AB 23 provides a
mechanism to prevent the type of abuse that led to the
former members of the Bell City Council receiving thousands
of dollars in inappropriate payments for meetings that may
have been legally established but for which no business was
conducted. Requiring a public announcement that a sitting
legislative body also will conduct business as a second
body, and that members will receive additional compensation
as a result, gives the public much-needed notice when
meetings trigger compensation.
2. Good intentions vs. unintended consequences . Assembly
Bill 23 requires the cumbersome reporting of local
officials' compensation when they efficiently convene
public bodies concurrently or serially. Local agencies
that want to abuse compensation policies will simply elect
not to hold concurrent or serial meetings to avoid the
public announcement requirement. The bill discourages
local agencies from efficiently convening concurrent or
serial meetings, and could create hardship for residents
interested in monitoring multiple public meetings.
3. Hear ye! Hear ye! AB 23's remedy harkens back to the
days of town criers. The effectiveness of this strategy
will be constrained by weak attendance at public meetings,
lack of context regarding whether existing policies are
equitable with other entities or other jurisdictions,
AB 23 -- 6/1/11 -- Page 3
whether individual members receive compensation from
numerous entities, and how frequently those entities meet.
4. An incomplete solution . The state and local agencies
have long tussled over the regulation of compensation for
local officials. In 2005, the Legislature established
limits on compensation for community development
commissions (AB 11, De La Torre, 2005). In analyzing the
bill, the Senate Local Government Committee noted that
limiting compensation for one entity may result in
unscrupulous city councils establishing other local
entities, appointing themselves as members, and paying
large stipends. That apparently came to pass in the City
of Bell. Like AB 11 in 2005, AB 23 addresses a specific
concern, but may simply result in new approaches to
profiteering. The committee may wish to seek more sweeping
reforms, including putting a limit on the total
compensation that local officials can receive.
Alternatively, the Committee may want to provide local
agencies with the responsibility and flexibility to
determine compensation policies for their local boards, but
fortify requirements for public disclosure.
5. Related Legislation . AB 23 is not the only bill
reacting to Bell's pay scandals:
AB 148 (Smyth) requires a local agency that has adopted a
written attendance compensation policy or written
reimbursement policy to post the policy on the local
agency's Internet Web site, if any, and to submit a copy of
the policy to the Controller.
AB 1344 (Feuer) requires a proposal to adopt a charter to
include in the ballot description an enumeration of new
city powers as a result of the adoption of the charter,
including whether the city council will have the power to
raise its own compensation and the compensation of other
city officials without voter approval.
SB 46 (Correa) requires designated employees who are
required to file statements of economic interest under a
conflict of interest code to include, as a part of that
filing, a compensation disclosure form that provides
compensation information for the preceding calendar year.
AB 23 -- 6/1/11 -- Page 4
Assembly Actions
Assembly Local Government Committee:9-0
Assembly Floor: 74-0
Support and Opposition (6/2/11)
Support : Unknown.
Opposition : Unknown.