BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 41 Page 1 CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS AB 41 (Hill) As Amended August 16, 2012 2/3 vote. Urgency ----------------------------------------------------------------- |ASSEMBLY: |60-0 |(April 14, |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 30, | | | |2011) | | |2012) | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Original Committee Reference: E. & R. SUMMARY : Requires a member of the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) who has a financial interest in a governmental decision before the HSRA to publicly identify the financial interest that gives rise to the conflict of interest, to recuse himself or herself from discussing or voting on the matter, and to leave the room until after the discussion, vote, and any other disposition of the matter is concluded. Expands the amount of information that a member of the HSRA must disclose on a statement of economic interests (SEI). Specifically, this bill adds members of the HSRA to a statutorily-designated list of high-ranking public officials who are subject to the most expansive disclosure requirements under the Political Reform Act (PRA). The Senate amendments : 1)Require each individual who is selected by the HSRA to serve in a peer review capacity to the HSRA to be deemed to be a designated employee of the HSRA, thereby requiring such employees to file SEIs. Require that SEIs filed by these employees be filed with the HSRA. 2)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with AB 2609 (Hueso). 3)Add an urgency clause, allowing this bill to take effect immediately upon enactment. AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar to the version approved by the Senate, except that it did not contain the provisions requiring certain individuals serving in a peer review capacity to be considered designated employees of AB 41 Page 2 the HSRA, nor did it contain double-jointing language or an urgency clause. FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs. COMMENTS : Existing law designates certain high-ranking public officials who are subject to the most expansive disclosure requirements under the PRA. This bill proposes to add members of the HSRA to that statutorily-established list. This change would have two primary effects on the members of the HSRA. First, members of the HSRA board would be subject to somewhat broader disclosure when they file their SEIs; currently board members must disclose only those interests that fall within one of the disclosure categories listed in the HSRA's Conflict of Interest Code, but under this bill, board members would be required to disclose all investments, interests in real property, and income, with certain limited exceptions. Second, adding members of the HSRA board to the statutorily-established list of high-ranking public officials would mean that if a member of the board had a conflict of interest in a matter before the board, that member would have to publicly identify the financial interest and leave the room until after the discussion of that matter had finished. 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. This bill had been substantially amended in the Senate to add new provisions requiring HSRA board members to report ex parte communications in certain circumstances. However, the provisions governing ex parte communications subsequently were removed from the bill. As a result, there are two substantive differences between the current version of this bill and the version approved by the Assembly last year. First, this bill now requires individuals who are selected by the HSRA to serve in a peer review capacity to file SEIs. Second, this bill now AB 41 Page 3 contains an urgency clause. Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN: 0005099