BILL NUMBER: AB 41 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 22, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 9, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Hill
DECEMBER 6, 2010
An act to amend Section 87200 of the Government Code, and to add
Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 185040) to Division 19.5 of the
Public Utilities Code, relating to conflicts of interest.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 41, as amended, Hill. High-Speed Rail Authority: conflicts of
interest: disqualification: ex parte communications.
(1) Existing provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974
prohibit a public official at any level of state or local government
from making, participating in making, or attempting to use his or her
official position to influence a governmental decision in which he
or she knows or has reason to know that he or she has a financial
interest, as defined. Existing law also requires specified elected
and appointed officers at the state and local level of government to
disclose specified financial interests by filing periodic statements
of economic interests. Existing law further requires public officials
who hold specified offices and who have a financial interest in a
decision within the meaning of the Political Reform Act of 1974 to
publicly identify the financial interest giving rise to the conflict
of interest or potential conflict of interest, recuse themselves from
discussing and voting on the matter, and leave the room until after
the discussion, vote, and other disposition of the matter is
concluded, except as specified.
This bill would add members of the High-Speed Rail Authority to
those specified offices who must publicly identify a financial
interest giving rise to a conflict of interest or potential conflict
of interest, and recuse themselves accordingly.
Existing law makes a violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974
subject to administrative, civil, and criminal penalties. This bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by exposing these members
to potential criminal penalties for failing to make the disclosures
and recuse themselves where required by this bill.
(2) Existing law creates the High-Speed Rail Authority with
specified powers and duties relative to development and
implementation of a high-speed train system. Existing law provides
for the authority to be governed by a 9-member board.
This bill would prohibit a member of the authority board and any
interested person, as defined, from conducting an ex parte
communication, as defined. The bill would require a board member to
report an ex parte communication, as specified. The bill would
require the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to enforce
these provisions under certain conditions.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides
that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes
upon a 2/3 vote of each house and compliance with specified
procedural requirements.
This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 87200 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
87200. This article is applicable to elected state officers,
judges and commissioners of courts of the judicial branch of
government, members of the Public Utilities Commission, members of
the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission,
members of the Fair Political Practices Commission, members of the
California Coastal Commission, members of the High-Speed Rail
Authority, members of planning commissions, members of the board of
supervisors, district attorneys, county counsels, county treasurers,
and chief administrative officers of counties, mayors, city managers,
city attorneys, city treasurers, chief administrative officers and
members of city councils of cities, and other public officials who
manage public investments, and to candidates for any of these offices
at any election.
SEC. 2. Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 185040) is added to
Division 19.5 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 4. EX PARTE COMMUNICATIONS
185040. (a) For purposes of this chapter, except as provided in
subdivision (b), an "ex parte communication" is any oral or written
communication between a member of the authority and an interested
person, about a matter within the authority's jurisdiction, that does
not occur in a public hearing, workshop, or other official
proceeding, or on the official record of the proceeding on the
matter.
(b) The following communications are not ex parte communications:
(1) Any communication between a staff member acting in his or her
official capacity and any authority member or interested person.
(2) Any communication limited entirely to procedural issues,
including, but not limited to, a meeting schedule, location, or
format of a presentation.
(3) Any communication that takes place on the record during an
official proceeding of a state, regional, or local agency that
involves a member of the authority who also serves as an official of
that agency.
(4) Any communication between a member of the authority, with
regard to any action of another state agency or of a regional or
local agency of which the member is an official, and any other
official or employee of that agency.
185041. For purposes of this chapter, an "interested person" is
any of the following:
(a) A potential bidder, vendor, contractor, an agent or an
employee of a bidder, vendor , or contractor, or a person
receiving consideration for representing a bidder, vendor, or
contractor interested in obtaining a contract with the authority or
currently under contract to the authority.
(b) A firm or person with a financial interest, as described in
Article 1 (commencing with Section 87100) of Chapter 7 of Title 9 of
the Government Code, in a matter before the authority, or an agent or
employee of the firm or person with a financial interest, or a
person receiving consideration for representing the firm or person
with a financial interest.
(c) A representative acting on behalf of any civic
regional or local agency, or any environmental,
neighborhood, business, labor, trade, or similar organization ,
who intends to influence the decision of an authority member on
a matter before the authority. For the purposes of this
chapter, "regional or local agency" includes, but is not limited to,
a city, county, city and county, special district,
joint powers authority, council of governments, and
transportation authority.
185042. (a) No authority member, nor any interested person, shall
conduct an ex parte communication unless the authority member fully
discloses and makes public the ex parte communication by providing a
full report of the communication to the executive director within
seven days after the communication or, if the communication occurs
within seven days of the next authority meeting, to the authority on
the record of the proceeding at that meeting.
(b) (1) The authority shall adopt standard disclosure forms for
reporting ex parte communications which shall include, but not be
limited to, all of the following information:
(A) The date, time, and location of the communication.
(B) The identity of the person or persons initiating and the
person or persons receiving the communication.
(C) A complete description of the content of the communication,
including the complete text of any written material that was a part
of the communication.
(2) The executive director shall place in the public record any
report of an ex parte communication.
(c) Communications shall cease to be ex parte communications when
fully disclosed and placed in the authority's official record.
185043. Nothing in this chapter prohibits any person, including
any interested person, from testifying at an authority hearing,
workshop, or other official proceeding, or from submitting written
comments for the record on a matter before the authority. Written
comments shall be submitted by mail or delivered to an authority
office, or may be delivered to the authority at the time and place of
a scheduled meeting.
185044. Any person, including an authority member, may request
the authority staff to conduct a workshop on any matter before the
authority or on any subject that may be useful to the authority.
185045. No authority member or alternate shall make, participate
in making, or in any other way attempt to use his or her official
position to influence an authority decision about which the member or
alternate has knowingly had an ex parte communication that has not
been reported pursuant to Section 185042.
185046. The Business, Transportation and Housing Agency shall be
responsible for enforcing this chapter. This section shall become
operative only if legislation is enacted placing the authority within
the agency.
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this
act furthers the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within
the meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government
Code.