BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 410
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Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
410 (Obernolte) - As Amended April 27, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires a state agency to post on its website any
report the state agency is required by law to submit to a
committee of the Legislature. Defines report as any study or
audit, or any budget change proposal (BCP) that has been
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approved by the Department of Finance (DOF) and submitted to a
budget committee of the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Minor costs to state agencies to post additional documents to
their websites.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill is meant to
increase transparency. A state agency that currently submits
a report that is required or requested by law to the
Legislature must also post the report on its website. This
bill extends the posting requirement to reports submitted to a
committee of the Legislature as well and adds BCPs to the
definition of "report."
2)Background. This bill defines reports as any study or audit,
or any BCP that has been approved by DOF and submitted to a
budget committee of the Legislature. While the number of
reports required by law to be submitted to committees is
unknown, it appears as though many agencies already post many
audits and studies on their websites. However, BCPs are not
generally posted on agency websites.
DOF defines a BCP as "a proposal to change the level of
service or funding sources for activities authorized by the
Legislature, or to propose new program activities not
currently authorized." BCPs help shape the budget process.
When preparing a BCP, a department is required to summarize
the identified problem or issues the proposal is meant to
resolve, specify resources needed, provide justification for
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the change, present expected outcomes, and analyze feasible
alternatives. This bill will not change when BCPs become
public. Instead, the author explains that the posting of BCPs
required by this bill will allow for enhanced public access.
Currently, DOF posts budget proposals, final budgets, and
budget related documents like budget letters on its website.
However, it does not post BCPs that have been submitted to
budget committees of the Legislature. The fiscal portions of
BCPs for all departments are available in the State's FI$Cal
system, either entered directly by the department (Wave 1
departments) or uploaded by DOF (non-Wave 1 departments).
However, the Analysis and Justification (narrative) portions
of BCPs are not yet included in this system. For an approved
BCP, the narrative portions would need to be scanned or
otherwise included with the fiscal reports in order for a
department to post the BCP in its entirety. As the FI$Cal
system continues to be implemented over the next several
years, more BCP information will be readily available by
departments electronically.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 410
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