BILL NUMBER: AB 41 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 15, 2012
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 , and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 41, as amended, Hill. High-Speed Rail Authority: conflicts of
interest: disqualification: ex parte communications.
disqualification.
(1) Existing
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
levels 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 officers 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, unless the board member discloses and
makes public the communication, as specified. The bill would require
the agency overseeing the authority to enforce these provisions under
specified 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.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
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.
(5) Any communication between a member of the authority and an
interested person regarding a matter restricted to a current contract
between the authority and the interested person.
185041. For purposes of this chapter, an "interested person" is a
firm or person with a financial interest in a matter before the
authority, including, but not limited to, the following:
(a) A bidder, potential bidder, vendor, or contractor.
(b) An agent or employee of a bidder, potential bidder, vendor,
or contractor.
(c) A person receiving consideration for representing a bidder,
potential bidder, vendor, or contractor.
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 agency overseeing the authority shall be responsible
for enforcing this chapter. This section shall become operative only
if legislation is enacted placing the authority within an agency.
SEC. 3. SEC. 2. 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. SEC. 3. 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.
SEC. 4. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to ensure that prior to the commencement of expenditures
by the High-Speed Rail Authority, proper disqualification procedures
are in place, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.