BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 728
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
Rudy Salas, Chair
AB 728
Hadley - As Amended April 8, 2015
SUBJECT: State government: financial reporting
SUMMARY: Requires state agencies to post their Financial
Integrity and State Manager's Accountability Act of 1983 (FISMA)
reports on their websites within five days of finalization.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Specifies under FISMA that state agency heads are responsible
for establishing and maintaining a system of internal
accounting and administrative control within their agencies.
2)Requires agency heads covered by FISMA to conduct reviews and
issue FISMA reports about these controls and monitoring
processes.
3)Requires agencies to submit FISMA reports to various state
entities, including the State Library, where reports are
required to be available for public inspection.
AB 728
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FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: This bill requires state agencies to post FISMA
reports on their websites within five days of finalization.
These reports, which are due by the end of each odd-number
calendar year, assess an agency's system of internal accounting,
administrative controls, and monitoring practices.
State agencies are currently required to submit FISMA reports to
the Legislature, State Auditor, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney
General, Governor, Director of Finance, and State Library where
they must be available for public inspection.
While the website posting of these reports is not currently
required, the Department of Finance (Finance) issued a February
2013 audit memo that encourages agencies to post their FISMA
reports on their websites. While some agencies have posted
these reports online, it appears as though many agencies have
not.
As FISMA reports are already required to be sent to the State
Library for public viewing, the public has access to them.
However, the web posting requirements in this bill could likely
increase public access to these reports. According to the
author, this bill will encourage transparency and build public
trust.
PRIOR LEGISLATION: AB 661 (Beth Gaines) of 2013 would have
required agencies to post FISMA reports on their websites within
five days of finalization. Additionally, it would have required
the head of an agency to sign off on the reports under penalty
of perjury and would have suspended without pay agency heads who
did not submit FISMA reports within 30 days of their due dates.
AB 661 was held in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:Scott Herbstman / A. & A.R. / (916)
319-3600
AB 728
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