Amended in Senate June 30, 2015

Amended in Assembly May 19, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 7, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly BillNo. 1200


Introduced by Assembly Member Gordon

February 27, 2015


An act to amend Section 82002 of, and to add Section 86205.5 to, the Government Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1200, as amended, Gordon. Political Reform Act of 1974: lobbying: procurement contracts.

Existing provisions of the Political Reform Act of 1974 regulate the activities of lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers, as defined, in connection with attempts to influence legislative and administrative action by legislative and other state officials, including requirements that lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers register and file periodic reports with the Secretary of State. The act also prohibits a lobbyist or lobbying firm from engaging in certain activities, including, among others, accepting any payment that is contingent upon the defeat, enactment, or outcome of any proposed legislative or administrative action. For purposes of these provisions, “administrative action” is defined to include the proposal, drafting, development, consideration, amendment, enactment, or defeat by any state agency of any rule, regulation, or other action in any ratemaking proceeding or any quasi-legislative proceeding.

This bill would additionally define the term “administrative action” to include governmental procurement, which would be defined to include various actions regarding a state procurement contract for which the total estimated cost exceeds $250,000, thereby making the above-described lobbying requirements applicable to actions that attempt to influence governmental procurement. The bill would also exclude certain actions from the definition of “government procurement,” includingbegin insert, among others,end insert submitting abegin delete bid,end deletebegin insert bid or fee proposal,end insert testifying at a public hearing relating to a procurement contract, or any activity undertaken bybegin insert aend insert bona fidebegin delete salesperson, asend deletebegin insert salesperson or a placement agent, as those terms areend insert defined.

This bill would also authorize a lobbyistbegin insert, other than a placement agent,end insert to be compensated on a commission basis for lobbying activities related to influencing administrative action relating to governmental procurement, as specified.

Because a willful violation of the act’s provisions is punishable as a misdemeanor, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act’s purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements.

This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.

Vote: 23. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

P2    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 82002 of the Government Code is
2amended to read:

3

82002.  

(a) “Administrative action” means any of the following:

4(1) The proposal, drafting, development, consideration,
5amendment, enactment, or defeat by any state agency of any rule,
6regulation, or other action in any ratemaking proceeding or any
7quasi-legislative proceeding, which shall include any proceeding
P3    1governed by Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of
2Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2.

3(2) With regard only to placement agents, the decision by any
4state agency to enter into a contract to invest state public retirement
5system assets on behalf of a state public retirement system.

6(3) Governmental procurement.

7(b) “Ratemaking proceeding” means, for purposes of a
8proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission, any proceeding
9in which it is reasonably foreseeable that a rate will be established,
10including, but not limited to, general rate cases, performance-based
11ratemaking, and other ratesetting mechanisms.

12(c) “Quasi-legislative proceeding” means, for purposes of a
13proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission, any proceeding
14that involves consideration of the establishment of a policy that
15will apply generally to a group or class of persons, including, but
16not limited to, rulemakings and investigations that may establish
17rules affecting an entire industry.

18(d) (1) “Governmental procurement” means any of the
19following with respect to a state procurement contract for which
20the total estimated cost exceeds two hundred fifty thousand dollars
21($250,000):

22(A) Preparing the terms, specifications, bid documents, request
23for proposals, or evaluation criteria for the procurement contract.

24(B) Soliciting for the procurement contract.

25(C) Evaluating the procurement contract.

begin insert

26(D) Scoring criteria for the procurement contract.

end insert
begin delete

28 27(D)

end delete

28begin insert(E)end insert Awarding, approving, denying, or disapproving the
29procurement contract.

begin delete

31 30(E)

end delete

31begin insert(F)end insert Approving or denying an assignment, amendment, other
32than an amendment authorized and payable under the terms of the
33procurement contract as the procurement contract was finally
34awarded or approved, renewal, or extension of the procurement
35contract, or any other material change in the procurement contract
36resulting in financial benefit to the offeror.

37(2) “Governmental procurement” does not include any of the
38following with respect to a state procurement contract for which
39the total estimated cost exceeds two hundred fifty thousand dollars
40($250,000):

P4    1(A) Submitting a bidbegin insert or fee proposalend insert on the state procurement
2begin delete contract.end deletebegin insert contract that does not involve any activity described in
3paragraph (1)end insert
begin insert, including attending a bidders’ conferenceend insertbegin insert or
4responding to requests for information; or responding to a
5competitive selection process based on qualifications.end insert

6(B) Testifying at a public hearing regarding the state
7procurement contract.

8(C) Anybegin delete activity, including those described in paragraph (1),end delete
9begin insert activityend insert undertaken by a bona fide salesperson of an article of
10procurement. For purposes of this subparagraph, a “bona fide
11salesperson” is an individual who satisfiesbegin delete eachend deletebegin insert allend insert of the following:

12(i) The primary purpose of the individual’s employment isbegin delete to
13cause or promoteend delete
the sale ofbegin delete, or to influence or induce another to
14make a purchase of,end delete
an article of procurement.

15(ii) The primary purpose of the individual’s employment is not
16to influence the actions of a public officer or statebegin delete agency in regards
17to selecting vendors to supply articles of procurement under a state
18procurement contract.end delete
begin insert agency, as described in paragraph (1).end insert

19(iii) The individual does not engage in any other activity that
20would qualify him or her as a lobbyist.

begin insert

21(D) Any activity undertaken by a placement agent, as that term
22is defined in Section 82047.3.

end insert
begin insert

23(E) Any activity relating to a contract awarded by the state
24through the California Multiple Award Schedule (CMAS) or a
25contract awarded through government multi-jurisdiction
26purchasing schedules.

end insert
27

SEC. 2.  

Section 86205.5 is added to the Government Code, to
28read:

29

86205.5.  

Notwithstanding Section 86205, abegin delete lobbyistend deletebegin insert lobbyist,
30other than a placement agent,end insert
may be compensated on a
31commission basis only with respect to lobbying activities related
32to influencing administrative action for governmental procurement,
33as defined in subdivision (d) of Section 82002.

34

SEC. 3.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
35Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
36the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
37district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
38infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
39for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
40the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
P5    1the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
2Constitution.

3

SEC. 4.  

The Legislature finds and declares that this bill furthers
4the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the
5meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government
6Code.



O

    96