BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE
                         Senator Robert M. Hertzberg, Chair
                                2015 - 2016  Regular 

                              
          
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Bill No:  |AB 341                           |Hearing    |6/10/15  |
          |          |                                 |Date:      |         |
          |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
          |Author:   |Achadjian                        |Tax Levy:  |No       |
          |----------+---------------------------------+-----------+---------|
          |Version:  |5/5/15                           |Fiscal:    |No       |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Consultant|Weinberger                                            |
          |:         |                                                      |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 

                   LOCAL GOVERNMENTS' FINANCIAL TRANSACTIONS REPORTS



          Makes several changes to the statutes requiring local  
          governments to report annual financial information to the State  
          Controller's Office.


           Background

           The State Controller must compile and publish reports of the  
          financial transactions of local governments, including counties,  
          cities, special districts, and joint powers authorities.  Local  
          governments must, within 90 to 110 days of the end of their  
          respective fiscal years, furnish the State Controller with  
          annual reports of their financial transactions.  

          Because the deadlines by which local governments must submit  
          annual financial transactions data to the State Controller often  
          fall before the date on which audited financial information for  
          the prior fiscal year is available, the data submitted to the  
          Controller is often imprecise and requires revisions before it  
          is published by the Controller.  Local officials want the  
          Legislature to change the timelines for submitting some local  
          financial information to the Controller and make additional  
          changes to state law to ensure that local government financial  
          transactions information is more accurate and accessible when it  
          is made available to the public.








          AB 341 (Achadjian) 5/5/15                               Page 2  
          of ?
          
          

           Proposed Law

           I.   Local government reports to the Controller  .  Current law  
          requires the officer of each local agency who has charge of the  
          agency's financial records to furnish to the State Controller a  
          report of all the local agency's financial transactions during  
          the prior fiscal year.  The report must be filed either within  
          90 days of the end of a local agency's fiscal year or, if it is  
          filed electronically, within 110 days of the end of a local  
          agency's fiscal year.  Assembly Bill 341:
                 Extends, to seven months after the end of a local  
               agency's fiscal year, the deadline for submitting to the  
               Controller an annual report of a local agency's financial  
               transactions.

                 Requires the report to contain underlying data from  
               audited financial statements prepared in accordance with  
               generally accepted accounting principles, if the data is  
               available.

          Current law requires that, upon the completion of the annual  
          report submitted to the Controller's Office, a local  
          government's legislative body must cause copies of the report to  
          be prepared and the clerk of the legislative body must furnish a  
          copy to any person requesting it.  Assembly Bill 341, as an  
          alternative to furnishing paper copies of the report upon  
          request, allows a legislative body to post the report in a  
          conspicuous location on its Internet Website.  

          Current law requires that the annual report submitted to the  
          Controller, must state the annual compensation of a local  
          agency's elected officials, officers, and employees in  
          accordance with reporting instructions developed by the  
          Controller, in consultation with affected local agencies.   
          Assembly Bill 341 requires that a local agency must submit to  
          the Controller, specified annual compensation information for  
          the previous calendar year no later than April 30th.

          II.   Controller's published reports  .  Current law requires the  
          Controller, subject to specified statutory requirements, to  
          compile and publish annual reports of the financial transactions  
          of each county, city, and special district on or before August  
          1st, September 1st, and October 1st respectively following the  








          AB 341 (Achadjian) 5/5/15                               Page 3  
          of ?
          
          
          end of the annual reporting period.  Assembly Bill 341 instead  
          requires the Controller to compile and publish reports, of the  
          financial transactions of each county, city, and special  
          district on or before November 1st of each year following the  
          end of the annual reporting period.

          III.   Other provisions  .  Assembly Bill 341 repeals a provision  
          of law which establishes a separate reporting deadline, for a  
          local agency that reports specified information to the Office of  
          Statewide Health Planning and Development.

          Assembly Bill 341 repeals an obsolete deadline, for a community  
          redevelopment agency to submit annual financial transactions  
          information to the Controller.

          Assembly Bill 341 makes other technical and conforming changes  
          to current law.


           State Revenue Impact

           No estimate.


           Comment

           1.  Purpose of the bill  .  Because current law requires local  
          governments to submit annual financial transactions reports to  
          the State Controller within 90 to 110 days of the end of a  
          fiscal year, those reports typically are submitted before the  
          completion of an independent audit of the prior year's fiscal  
          transactions.  After independent audits are completed, local  
          governments frequently have to resubmit reports to the  
          Controller's Office with additional or corrected information  
          that is identified in the audit.  Submitting incomplete or  
          unaudited data can create confusion for the public and  
          additional work for both the State Controller's office and the  
          local agency staff to update information to reflect final  
          audits.  By extending the period of time during which a local  
          agency can submit the report to the Controller's office and  
          requiring that the report will contain data from audited  
          financial statements, if the data is available, AB 341 will  
          provide the public with more accurate information about local  
          governments' financial transactions and saves public agencies'  








          AB 341 (Achadjian) 5/5/15                               Page 4  
          of ?
          
          
          time and resources.   


           Assembly Actions

           Assembly Local Government Committee:      9-0
          Assembly Floor:                              74-0


           Support and  
          Opposition   (6/4/15)


           Support  :  California Special Districts Association; California  
          State Association of Counties; League of California Cities.

           Opposition  :  Unknown.

                              -- END -