BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 823| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- CONSENT Bill No: AB 823 Author: Bigelow (R) Introduced:2/26/15 Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 7-0, 6/10/15 AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach, Pavley ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/16/15 - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Counties: ordinances SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill removes a requirement that a copy of the full text of proposed ordinances, proposed amendments to existing ordinances, adopted ordinances and adopted amendments to existing ordinances be posted in the office of the clerk of the board of supervisors. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Requires a county board, before the expiration of 15 days after the passage of an ordinance by the board, to publish the ordinance with the names of those members voting for and AB 823 Page 2 against the ordinance, in a newspaper published in the county, if there is one. If there is no newspaper published in the county, the ordinance must be posted in a prominent location at the board's chambers within the 15-day period and remain posted thereafter for at least one week. 2)Allows the publication requirement specified above to be satisfied by either of the following procedures: a) At least five days prior to the board meeting at which the proposed ordinance or amendment is to be adopted, a summary of the proposed ordinance or proposed amendment to an existing ordinance must be published and a certified copy of the full text of the proposed ordinance or proposed amendment must be posted in the office of the clerk; and, Within 15 days after the adoption of the ordinance or amendment, the board must publish a summary of the ordinance or amendment with the names of those supervisors voting for and against the ordinance or amendment, and the clerk must post in his or her office a certified copy of the full text of the adopted ordinance or amendment along with the names of those supervisors voting for and against the ordinance or amendment; or, b) If a county official designated by the board determines that it is not feasible to prepare a fair and adequate summary of the proposed or adopted ordinance or amendment, and if the board so orders, a display advertisement of at least one-quarter of a page in a newspaper of general circulation in the county shall be published at least five days prior to the board meeting at which the proposed ordinance or amendment or alteration thereto is to be adopted; and, Within 15 days after adoption of the ordinance or amendment, a display advertisement of at least one-quarter of a page shall be published. The advertisement shall indicate the general nature of, and provide information AB 823 Page 3 about, the proposed or adopted ordinance or amendment, including information sufficient to enable the public to obtain copies of the complete text of such ordinance or amendment, and the names of those supervisors voting for and against the ordinance or amendment. 3)Provides that, if the clerk fails to publish an ordinance within 15 days after the date of adoption, the ordinance shall not take effect until 30 days after the date of publication. This bill: 1)Removes a requirement that a copy of the full text of proposed ordinances, proposed amendments to existing ordinances, adopted ordinances and adopted amendments to existing ordinances be posted in the office of the clerk (clerk) of the board of supervisors (board). 2)Requires, instead, a certified copy of the full text of a proposed ordinance or proposed amendment to be made available to the public upon request by the clerk at least five days prior to the board meeting at which the proposed ordinance or amendment or alteration thereto is to be adopted. The clerk also shall either post a copy of the full text of the ordinance or amendment on the county's Internet Web site or post a certified copy of the full text in the office of the clerk five days prior to the board meeting at which the proposed ordinance or amendment or alteration is to be adopted. 3)Requires, within 15 days after adoption of an ordinance or amendment, the clerk to make available to the public, upon request, a certified copy of the full text of the adopted ordinance or amendment along with the names of those supervisors voting for and against the ordinance or amendment. The clerk shall also either post a copy of the full text of the ordinance or amendment and the names of those supervisors voting for and against the ordinance or amendment on the county's Internet Web site or shall post in the office of the AB 823 Page 4 clerk a certified copy of the full text of the adopted ordinance or amendment along with the vote information specified in this paragraph. Comment Purpose of the bill. This bill removes the requirement that a certified copy of the full text of a proposed or adopted ordinance be posted in the clerk's office and, instead, allows counties to choose to post the full text online. AB 823 will eliminate a potentially unnecessary requirement to post the certified copy of full text of proposed ordinances 5 days prior to the vote of the Board of Supervisors and instead requires the county to post the ordinance online or provide a copy of the language of the ordinance upon request. Current law requires clerks to physically post a certified copy of the full text of a proposed ordinance in the office of the clerk 5 days prior to the vote of the Board of Supervisors and also requires the clerk to post a certified copy of the approved ordinance in the office of the clerk after the vote. This bill will benefit taxpayers by reducing the staff time and resources that counties spend on posting hard copies of ordinances. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:NoLocal: No SUPPORT: (Verified6/11/15) None received OPPOSITION: (Verified6/11/15) None received ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 79-0, 4/16/15 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, AB 823 Page 5 Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Quirk Prepared by:Toren Lewis / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119 6/12/15 14:55:56 **** END ****