BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 884
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
884 (Gordon)
As Amended June 30, 2016
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: | |(May 26, 2015) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 25, |
| | | | | |2016) |
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(vote not relevant)
Original Committee Reference: E&R.
SUMMARY: Requires the title and summary of a state initiative
measure to contain a specified disclaimer if the Attorney
General determines that the proposed measure would likely result
in a violation of an individual's constitutional rights.
The Senate amendments delete the prior version of the bill and
do the following:
1)Repeal the prohibition against using Assembly-generated
television signals for political or commercial purposes.
2)Place the information that the Legislative Counsel makes
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available to the public pursuant to Government Code Section
10248 within the public domain and would provide that the
State of California retains no copyright or other proprietary
interest in that information.
3)Add an urgency clause.
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)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
bill. No action taken pursuant to this provision shall be
deemed to alter or relinquish any copyright or other
proprietary interest or entitlement of the State of California
relating to any of the information made available.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
COMMENTS: According to the author, 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 Californians have the ability to attend
legislative proceedings in person. Recognizing that most
Californians are not able to participate in person, the
Legislature has taken steps to provide access to proceedings by
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recording and broadcasting floor sessions and some committee
hearings. Moreover, Legislative Counsel provides the public
with electronic access to many legislative publications. This
bill updates provisions of California law that currently limit
the public use of legislatively-created recordings and
documents.
Analysis Prepared by:
Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800 FN:
0004992