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 retirement benefit, in list form, 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 that limitation.
(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,
9in list form, to any organization that is incorporated as a California
10nonprofit mutual benefit corporation pursuant to Part 3
11(commencing with Section 7110) of Division 2 of Title 1 of the
P3 1Corporations Code and qualified pursuant to Section 501(c)(5) of
2Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code for the purpose of
3representing retired employees of the local
public entity, upon that
4organization’s request, if any of the following occur:
5(1) The local public entity began the process of participating in
6a neutral evaluation process pursuant to Section 53760.3.
7(2) The local public entity declared a fiscal emergency and
8adopted a resolution by a majority vote of the governing board
9pursuant to Section 53760.5.
10(3) The local public entity filed a petition pursuant to applicable
11federal bankruptcybegin delete law.end deletebegin insert law on or before December 31, 2011.end insert
12(b) (1) An organization receiving a list with the name and
13mailing address of a retired employee or his or her beneficiary
14receiving the retired employee’s retirement benefit pursuant to
15subdivision (a) shall use that information only for the purpose of
16representing the retired employee or his or her beneficiary as a
17member of the organization as an interested party in a neutral
18evaluation process pursuant to Section 53760.3, the declaration of
19a fiscal emergency and adoption of a resolution pursuant to Section
2053760.5, or a bankruptcy proceeding.
21(2) An organization that violates paragraph (1) by misusing the
22information in the list provided shall be subject to a civil penalty
23in the amount of twenty-five thousand dollars
($25,000).
24(c) Upon written request of any retired employee, or his or her
25beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s retirement benefit, a
26local public entity shall not disclose the name and home address
27of the retired employee, or his or her beneficiary receiving the
28retired employee’s retirement benefit, and shall remove the retired
29employee, or his or her beneficiary receiving the retired employee’s
30retirement benefit, from any mailing list maintained by that local
31public entity in compliance with subdivision (a).
The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of
33this act, which adds Section 53760.9 to the Government Code,
34furthers, within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b)
35of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes
36of that constitutional section as it relates to the right of public
37access to the meetings of local public bodies or the writings of
38local public officials and local agencies. Pursuant to paragraph (7)
39of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
40Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:
P4 1This act ensures that public retirees and their beneficiaries have
2the opportunity to meaningfully
participate in the legal processes
3of a local public entity filing a petition and exercising powers
4pursuant to applicable federal bankruptcy law.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
6Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
7the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
8district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
9is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section
103 of Article I of the California Constitution.
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