BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 182
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Date of Hearing: March 15, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS AND REDISTRICTING
Paul Fong, Chair
AB 182 (Davis) - As Introduced: January 24, 2011
AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: statements of economic
interests.
SUMMARY : Allows participants in a pilot project that permits
the electronic filing of a statement of economic interests (SEI)
to continue to receive electronic filings of SEIs during the
2012 calendar year while the Legislature reviews the results of
the pilot project. Specifically, this bill :
1)Extends the end date of a pilot project that allows Los
Angeles, Merced, Orange, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Ventura
counties and the City of Long Beach to permit SEIs to be filed
electronically from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2012.
2)Contains various findings and declarations.
3)Makes technical changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Creates the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), and
makes it responsible for the impartial, effective
administration and implementation of the Political Reform Act
(PRA).
2)Requires that candidates for, and current holders of,
specified elected or appointed state and local offices and
designated employees of state and local agencies file SEIs
disclosing their financial interests, including investments,
real property interests, and income.
3)Establishes a pilot project which permits Los Angeles, Merced,
Orange, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and Ventura counties and the
City of Long Beach to permit the electronic filing of an SEI
in accordance with regulations adopted by the FPPC.
4)Requires the pilot project to cover the reporting periods of
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2008 through 2010.
5)Requires a county participating in the pilot project to submit
a report to the FPPC not later than July 1, 2011. Requires
the report to include a listing and estimate of associated
operational efficiencies; related savings and associated costs
from implementing and operating the pilot program; a listing
of the safety, security, or privacy issues encountered and an
explanation of how those issues were addressed; available
information related to feedback from electronic filing
participants; and any other relevant information on the
implementation of the pilot program.
6)Requires the FPPC to transmit the county reports received, as
well as any comments on the reports, to the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO) no later than August 15, 2011, and
requires the LAO to provide a report to the Legislature
evaluating the pilot project not later than February 1, 2012.
7)Allows the FPPC, in conjunction with the LAO, to develop
additional criteria for the report to be submitted to the FPPC
by participating counties.
8)Provides that the pilot project will begin on January 1, 2009
and end on January 1, 2012.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS :
1)Purpose of the Bill : According to the author:
California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in
1974 that created the ÝFPPC] which requires candidates,
current office holders and designated employees of state
and local agencies to file statements of economic interest
disclosing their financial interests.
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
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filing obligation. Assembly Bill 1921 (2010) added Santa
Clara and Ventura Counties, as well as the City of Long
Beach, to the existing pilot project.
AB 182 would extend the sunset date for the pilot program
from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012.
2)Statements of Economic Interests : As part of the 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 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 has estimated that the
number exceeds 200,000 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.
3)Pilot Project and Proposed Author's Amendments : As noted
above, existing law creates a pilot project, currently
scheduled to end on January 1, 2012, to evaluate the efficacy
and desirability of allowing for SEIs to be filed
electronically. Participants in the pilot project are
required to submit a report to the FPPC no later than July 1,
2011, which in turn is required to forward the reports to the
LAO along with any comments that the FPPC has on those reports
or the pilot project. Based on that information, the LAO is
required to provide a report to the Legislature evaluating the
pilot project not later than February 1, 2012.
As currently drafted, this bill proposes permanently allowing
any filing officer in the state to permit the electronic
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filing of SEIs beginning in 2013, even though the pilot
project is not yet complete and the Legislature has not
received the report from the LAO evaluating that pilot
project. In response to concerns raised to this approach, the
author has agreed to accept amendments to remove Section 3 of
this bill. With those amendments, the primary effect of this
bill will be to allow participants in the pilot project to
continue to accept electronically filed SEIs for the 2012
calendar year while the Legislature reviews the LAO's report.
If the Legislature subsequently decides, upon reviewing that
report, to permanently allow SEIs to be filed electronically,
this policy change would allow the participants in the pilot
project to continue accepting SEIs electronically without
interruption. This analysis reflects those proposed author's
amendments.
4)Suggested Technical Amendments : This bill proposes to allow
the participants in the existing pilot project to continue to
accept electronic filings of SEIs through the end of 2012,
until the Legislature has had the opportunity to review the
report on the pilot project issued by the LAO. However, while
the bill proposes to extend the end date of the pilot project,
it does not make a corresponding change to the reporting
periods that are covered by the pilot project. To ensure that
the author's intent is realized, committee staff recommends
the following amendment:
On page 4, line 14, strike out "2010" and insert "2011"
Additionally, while legislation enacted last year added the City
of Long Beach to the participants in the pilot project (see
below), that legislation inadvertently failed to make
corresponding changes to the reporting requirements in the
pilot project. To correct that oversight, committee staff
recommends the following amendments to this bill:
On page 4, line 14, after "county" insert "or city"
On page 4, line 27, after "county" insert "and city"
On page 4, line 34, after "counties" insert "and cities"
5)Previous Legislation : AB 2607 (Davis), Chapter 498, Statutes
of 2008, established a pilot project which permits Los
Angeles, Merced, Orange, and Stanislaus Counties to permit the
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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.
AB 1921(Davis), Chapter 58, Statutes of 2010, allowed Santa
Clara and Ventura Counties and the City of Long Beach to
participate in the pilot project that was created by AB 2607.
6)Political Reform Act of 1974 : California voters passed an
initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974 that created the FPPC 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.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
(sponsor)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees,
AFL-CIO (as introduced)
City of Long Beach (as introduced)
Fair Political Practices Commission (as introduced)
Orange County Board of Supervisors (as introduced)
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors (as introduced)
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094