BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 884 Hearing Date: 6/8/16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Gordon |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |6/1/16 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: |Yes |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Legislature: legislative proceeding: audiovisual
recordings
DIGEST
This bill repeals the prohibition against using
Assembly-generated television signals for political or
commercial purposes and requires the Legislature to cause
audiovisual recordings to be made of all open and public
proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the standing
committees thereof.
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
1)Prohibits, pursuant to statute, a television signal generated
by the Assembly from being used for any political or
commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, any
campaign for elective public office or any campaign supporting
or opposing a ballot proposition submitted to the electors. A
person or organization who violates this prohibition is guilty
of a misdemeanor.
2)Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel, with the advice
of the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on
Rules, to make certain information available to the public in
electronic form, including, among other things, the text of
each bill introduced in each current legislative session,
including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of each
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 2
of ?
bill.
This bill:
1)Repeals the prohibition against using Assembly-generated
television signals for political or commercial purposes and
instead authorizes the televised or other audiovisual
recordings of the public proceedings of each house of the
Legislature and the standing committees thereof to be used for
any lawful purpose and without the imposition of any fee.
2)Requires, commencing on January 1 of the second calendar year
after this bill is operative the Legislature to cause
audiovisual recordings to be made of all open and public
proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the standing
committees thereof.
3)Requires those recordings to be posted on the Internet by the
Legislative Counsel within one business day after the
proceeding being recorded has been recessed or adjourned for
the day.
4)Requires a posted recording to be retrievable in a perceivable
format for the duration of the biennial session in which the
recording is made and the biennial session immediately
following.
5)Requires the Legislative Counsel to preserve and secure these
recordings in an electronic form and store them in an archive
for not less than 20 years. Archived recordings shall be
reasonably available for use by the public in the medium in
which the recording was originally made.
6)Provides that it is contingent upon voter approval of SCA 14
(Wolk) at the November 8, 2016, Statewide General Election.
7)Declares that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency
statute.
BACKGROUND
The Munger/Blakeslee Initiative . This measure, along with SCA
14 (Wolk), which is also before this committee today, are
similar in intent to an initiative measure that is currently
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 3
of ?
pending signature verification, the proponents for which are
Charles T. Munger, Jr. and former State Senator Sam Blakeslee.
The official title and summary of the measure is as follows:
Legislature. Legislation and Proceedings. Initiative
Constitutional Amendment and Statute. Prohibits
Legislature from passing any bill unless it has been in
print and published on the Internet for at least 72
hours before the vote, except in cases of public
emergency. Requires the Legislature to make audiovisual
recordings of all its proceedings, except closed session
proceedings, and post them on the Internet. Authorizes
any person to record legislative proceedings by audio or
video means, except closed session proceedings. Allows
recordings of legislative proceedings to be used for any
legitimate purpose, without payment of any fee to the
State. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and
Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local
government: Increased costs to state government of
potentially $1 million to $2 million initially and about
$1 million annually for making additional legislative
proceedings available in audiovisual form on the
Internet.
The following is the Fiscal Impact Estimate Report for the
initiative measure as prepared by the Legislative Analyst's
Office:
Background
Legislative Rules. The State Legislature has two
houses: the State Assembly and the State Senate. The
California Constitution governs the various ways in
which the Legislature can pass bills. It does not
include a requirement on the amount of time a bill needs
to be available on the Internet before a vote by either
house.
Public Proceedings. The Constitution requires the
proceedings of each house to be open and public, with
some exceptions. These public proceedings include floor
sessions and committee hearings, some of which occur
outside of the State Capitol. Both the Senate and
Assembly make audio or audiovisual recordings of most,
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 4
of ?
but not all, of these proceedings available to the
public online. The legislative branch spends around $1
million annually on these activities. Current law
prohibits Assembly recordings from being used for
political and commercial purposes.
Legislature's Budget. Proposition 140 (1990)
established a cap on annual spending by the Legislature.
The cap is adjusted each year for changes in per capita
personal income and population.
Proposal
The measure makes three changes to Legislative rules and
responsibilities. First, the measure requires the
Legislature to ensure audiovisual recordings of all
public proceedings are publicly accessible on the
Internet within 24 hours and archived for at least 20
years thereafter. Second, the measure prohibits the
Legislature from voting on a bill until it has been
published online in its final form for at least 72
hours. This prohibition includes exceptions for
emergencies, such as natural disasters. Third, the
measure allows the recordings of public proceedings to
be used for any legitimate purpose.
Fiscal Effects
The measure's primary fiscal impact relates to the
requirement that the Legislature provide audiovisual
recordings of all proceedings. The amount of added
costs would depend on how the Legislature implemented
the measure. The state, however, could face: (1)
one-time costs of $1 million to $2 million to purchase
cameras and other equipment and (2) ongoing costs of
about $1 million annually for additional staff and
storage for an archive of the recordings. The
Legislature's costs of complying with the measure would
come out of their annual spending allocation.
Summary of Fiscal Effects. The measure would have the
following fiscal effect:
Increased costs to state government of potentially $1
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 5
of ?
million to $2 million initially and about $1 million
annually for making additional legislative proceedings
available in audiovisual form on the Internet.
Option for Initiative Withdrawal . Per SB 1253 (Steinberg,
Chapter 697 of 2014), proponents of a statewide initiative or
referendum measure are now permitted to withdraw the measure
after filing the petitions with elections officials at any time
before the measure qualifies for the ballot (131 days prior to
the election at which the measure will appear). The purpose of
this option is to provide a mechanism for a proponent to remove
a ballot initiative in the event the proponent comes to some
form of negotiated resolution, such as an alternative passed by
the Legislature.
COMMENTS
1)According to the author : AB 884 would provide necessary
statutory changes to implement provisions of SCA 14, which
would establish constitutional requirements for audiovisual
recording of legislative proceedings. SCA 14, if passed by
the Legislature and approved by the voters, would require the
Legislature to cause audiovisual recording of the open and
public proceedings of each house and their standing
committees. AB 884 would establish how the Legislature would
arrange for audiovisual recording and disclosure of the
Legislature's activities.
Specifically, it would:
Repeal prohibition on using recordings of legislative
proceedings for political or commercial purposes.
Reiterate that the Legislature must cause audiovisual
recordings of the open and public proceedings of each house
of the Legislature and their standing committees.
Require the Legislative Counsel to post, within one
business day, all such recordings in a retrievable and
perceivable format for public use for the entire biennial
session and the following session.
Require the Legislative Counsel to archive all such
recordings for at least 20 years and make the recordings
reasonably available to the public.
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 6
of ?
Allow the use of such recordings for any lawful purpose
and without imposing any fee.
SCA 14 recognizes that although the California Constitution
currently provides that the proceedings of each house of the
Legislature and the committees thereof shall be open and
public, few citizens have the ability to attend legislative
proceedings in person, and many legislative proceedings go
completely unobserved. It would enshrine in the constitution
the requirement that the Legislature cause that audiovisual
recordings of open and public proceedings of the Legislature
are made and available to the public.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SCA 14 (Wolk), which is also before this committee today,
requires the Legislature to make audiovisual recordings of the
proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the standing
committees thereof, if those proceedings are required to be open
and public.
PRIOR ACTION
------------------------------------------------------------------
|Assembly Floor: |50 - 26 |
|--------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|Assembly Appropriations Committee: |11 - 4 |
|--------------------------------------+---------------------------|
|Assembly Elections and Redistricting | 5 - 1 |
|Committee: | |
------------------------------------------------------------------
These votes do not reflect the current version of the bill.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: None received
Oppose: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
AB 884 (Gordon) Page 7
of ?
-- END --