BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1365|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1365
Author: John A. Pérez (D)
Amended: 4/24/13 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE : 11-0, 6/25/13
AYES: Wright, Nielsen, Berryhill, Calderon, Cannella, Correa,
De León, Galgiani, Hernandez, Lieu, Padilla
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/24/13 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : State and local agency reports: Legislative Counsel
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes substantive and clarifying changes to
existing provisions of law relating to reports filed by state
and local agencies with the Legislative Counsel as well as
provisions pertaining to the requirement that the Legislative
Counsel prepare and maintain an electronic list of all reports.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1. Requires or requests various state and local entities to
submit reports on specified topics to the Legislature, the
Governor, or both and directs Legislative Counsel to prepare,
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publish and maintain an electronic list of all reports that
state and local agencies are required or requested by law to
prepare and file with the Governor or the Legislature.
2. Requires this list to include, for each report, the date on
which the report was completed and filed. Requires the
Legislative Counsel to update the list of agency reports by
removing "obsolete" reports from the list; and requires the
Legislative Counsel to make the list available to the public
and to send the list to each Member of the Legislature.
Requires state and local agencies to file a printed copy of
these reports with the Legislative Counsel.
3. Defines "obsolete report" to mean a report that has not been
completed and filed and for which the date that the report
was required to be completed and filed was four or more years
after the initial report is submitted.
This bill makes the following substantive and clarifying changes
to existing provisions of law relating to reports filed by state
and local agencies with the Legislative Counsel as well as
provisions pertaining to the requirement that the Legislative
Counsel prepare and maintain an electronic list of all reports.
Specifically, this bill:
1. Requires state and local agencies to file mandated reports
with the Legislative Counsel electronically instead of as a
printed copy.
2. Clarifies that the Legislative Counsel's list of agency
reports must include information regarding the date on which
the report was "filed" rather than requiring both a
"completion" and "filing" date of the report.
3. Stipulates that if an electronic copy of a report is filed,
and the report is posted on an Internet Web site, the agency
filing the electronic copy must provide the Legislative
Counsel a hyperlink whereby the report may be accessed.
4. Also, requires the Legislative Counsel to include on the
Internet Web site it maintains any hyperlinks provided by
state and local agencies relative to the reports.
5. Eliminates the requirement that the Legislative Counsel
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delete "obsolete" reports from the list of agency reports.
Also, deletes the definition of "obsolete report."
6. Eliminates the requirement that the Legislative Counsel
provide the list to each Member of the Legislature and
instead requires the Legislative Counsel to annually provide
each Member of the Legislature a hyperlink whereby the list
of reports can be accessed.
7. Deletes an existing provision which permits the Legislative
Counsel to charge a member of the public a fee that does not
exceed the direct cost of printing the list.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/13/13)
Association of California Water Agencies
East Bay Municipal Utility District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, this
bill will allow the public to access the various reports
submitted to the Legislature by state agencies. The author's
office contends that with advances in technology and the
transition to paperless government practices, allowing state and
local agencies and Legislative Counsel to provide electronic
copies and links to reports saves time, money and resources.
Additionally, this bill will eliminate confusion relative to the
term "obsolete report" in existing law by eliminating the
requirement that Legislative Counsel delete obsolete reports.
Currently, Legislative Counsel is required to prepare and
publish an electronic list, available to the public, of all
reports that state and local agencies are required by law to
file with the Governor or Legislature. In an attempt to reduce
the number of reports being issued by governments the term
"obsolete report" was added to law allowing Legislative Counsel
to remove references to reports that were more than four years
past due. In reality, it makes no sense to eliminate them from
the Legislative Counsel Web site which serves as a repository
for information and a means to track completed reports. If
anything, one could argue that the current process for removing
"obsolete reports" from the Legislative Counsel Web site results
in less transparency by limiting the public's access to the
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report information and may impede government accountability as
the reports are still required by statute unless the originating
statute is repealed. This bill addresses this issue by
eliminating the above requirement and deleting the definition of
"obsolete report."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-0, 5/24/13
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Ammiano, Atkins, Bloom, Blumenfield,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dahle, Daly,
Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Hagman, Hall,
Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez,
Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande,
Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk,
Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Weber,
Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Allen, Bigelow, Bonta, Grove, Holden,
Skinner, Waldron, Wilk, Vacancy, Vacancy
MW:d 8/13/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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