AB 241, as amended, Gordon. Bankruptcy: retired employees: disclosure of names and mailing addresses.
(1) Existing law prohibits a local public entity, as defined, from filing a petition and exercising powers pursuant to applicable federal bankruptcy law unless the local public entity has participated in a specified neutral evaluation process with interested parties, or the local public entity has declared a fiscal emergency and has adopted a resolution by a majority vote of the governing board at a noticed public hearing that includes findings that the financial state of the local public entity jeopardizes the health, safety, or well-being of the residents of the local public entity’s jurisdiction or service area absent the protections of federal bankruptcy law. Existing law defines “interested party,” for purposes of these provisions, to include, among others, a representative selected by an association of retired employees of the local public entity who receive income from the local public entity, as specified. Existing law exempts from public disclosure certain personal information of retirees from public employment.
This bill would require, notwithstanding any other law and under certain conditions, a local public entity to provide the name and mailing address of each retired employee or his or her beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s retirementbegin delete benefitend deletebegin insert benefit, in list form,end insert to any organization that is incorporated and qualified under specific state and federal laws for the purpose of representing retired employees or their beneficiaries as members of the organization in a neutral evaluation process, the declaration of a fiscal emergency and adoption of a resolution, or a bankruptcy proceeding, as specified. This bill would
limit an organization receiving this information under these provisions to using the information for only these purposes and impose a civil penalty of $25,000 on the organization for a violation of thatbegin delete limitation
under unspecified conditions.end deletebegin insert limitation.end insert
(2) The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the enactment furthers the constitutional requirements relating to this purpose. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
(3) 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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 53760.9 is added to the Government
2Code, to read:
(a) Notwithstanding any other law, including, but
4not limited to, the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5
5(commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1), except
6as provided in subdivision (c), a local public entity shall provide
7the name and mailing address of each retired employee, or his or
8her beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s retirement benefit,
9begin insert in list form,end insert to any organization that is incorporated as a California
10nonprofit mutual benefit corporation pursuant to Part 3
P3 1(commencing with Section 7110) of Division 2 of Title 1 of the
2Corporations Code and qualified pursuant to Section 501(c)(5) of
3Title 26 of
the Internal Revenue Code for the purpose of
4representing retired employees of the local public entity, upon that
5organization’s request, if any of the following occur:
6(1) The local public entity began the process of participating in
7a neutral evaluation process pursuant to Section 53760.3.
8(2) The local public entity declared a fiscal emergency and
9adopted a resolution by a majority vote of the governing board
10pursuant to Section 53760.5.
11(3) The local public entity filed a petition pursuant to applicable
12federal bankruptcy law.
13(b) (1) An organization receivingbegin insert a
list withend insert the name and
14mailing address of a retired employee or his or her beneficiary
15receiving the retired employee’s retirement benefit pursuant to
16subdivision (a) shall use that information only for the purpose of
17representing the retired employee or his or her beneficiary as a
18member of the organization as an interested party in a neutral
19evaluation process pursuant to Section 53760.3, the declaration of
20a fiscal emergency and adoption of a resolution pursuant to Section
2153760.5, or a bankruptcy proceeding.
22(2) An organization that violates paragraph (1)begin insert by misusing the
23information in the list providedend insert shall be subject to a civil penalty
24in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollarsbegin delete ($25,000) under the begin insert
($25,000).end insert
25following conditions: ____.end delete
26(c) Upon written request of any retired employee, or his or her
27beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s retirement benefit, a
28local public entity shall not disclose the name and home address
29of the retired employee, or his or her beneficiary receiving the
30retired employee’s retirement benefit, and shall remove the retired
31employee, or his or her beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s
32retirement benefit, from any mailing list maintained by that local
33public entity in compliance with subdivision (a).
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
35this act, which adds Section 53760.9 to the Government Code,
36furthers, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b)
37of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes
38of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of public
39access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings of
40local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph (7)
P4 1of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
2Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:
3This act ensures that public retirees and their beneficiaries have
4the opportunity to meaningfully
participate in the legal processes
5of a local public entity filing a petition and exercising powers
6pursuant to applicable federal bankruptcy law.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
8Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
9the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
10district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
11is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
123 of Article I of the California Constitution.
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