BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1566
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
Cristina Garcia, Chair
AB 1566
(Wilk) - As Amended March 1, 2016
SUBJECT: Reports
SUMMARY: Requires written reports submitted to the Legislature or
executive body, by any state agency or department, to include a
signed statement by the head of that agency or department declaring
that the factual contents of the report are true, accurate and
complete to the best of his/her knowledge. Specifically, this bill:
1)Stipulates that the provisions of this bill apply to the head of
every state agency or department, including, but not limited to,
elected state officials, and any state official whose duties are
prescribed by the California Constitution.
2)Specifies the applicable executive officers for the Franchise Tax
Board and the State Board of Equalization.
3)Defines "written report" to mean the following:
a) A document required by statute to be prepared and submitted
to the Legislature or any state legislative or executive body;
or,
b) A document, summary, or statement requested by a Member of
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the Legislature.
4)Exempts forecasts, predictions, recommendations or opinions from
this bill.
5)Specifies that any person who declares as true any material matter
that he/she knows to be false shall be liable for a civil penalty
not to exceed $20,000 and provides that the penalty shall be
exclusively assessed and recovered in a civil action by the
Attorney General.
EXISTING LAW provides, but is not limited to, the following:
1)Every willful omission to perform any duty enjoined by law upon any
public officer, or person holding any public trust or employment,
where no special provision is made for the punishment of such
delinquency, is punishable as a misdemeanor (Government Code
Section 1222).
2)Every person who, while taking and subscribing to the oath or
affirmation required by this chapter, states as true any material
matter which he or she knows to be false, is guilty of perjury, and
is punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of
Section 1170 of the Penal Code for two, three, or four years
(Government Code Section 1368).
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS: According to the author, this bill seeks to improve the
accuracy and truthfulness in reports submitted to the Legislature.
The most recent examples where questions concerning accuracy have
been raised include the bay bridge and high speed rail projects. The
author's approach to improving the accuracy of reports is to create a
civil litigation process whereby heads of departments and agencies
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that submit reports to the Legislature are personally responsible for
the truthfulness and accuracy of those reports. The author states,
"There is a systemic problem in Sacramento of misrepresenting facts
or outright lies by heads of agencies that are ultimately hurting
Californian taxpayers." This bill allows the Attorney General to
pursue a civil fine of up to $20,000 against any department or agency
head that knowingly submits false information in a report to the
Legislature.
This bill is a reintroduction of SB 1337 (DeSaulnier) that was
introduced in 2014 and subsequently vetoed by the Governor. Rather
than contain comments on the nature of the problem of inaccuracy of
reports to the Legislature, the Governor's veto message focused on
the consequence of implementing the solution proposed in the bill.
Specifically, the Governor's veto message states:
"Contrary to its stated purpose, this bill creates new bureaucratic
verification requirements that would likely impede communication
between the Executive Branch and the Legislature."
It is reasonable to assume that unless every report to the
Legislature undergoes rigorous bureaucratic verification no
department or agency head is likely to sign a statement attesting to
its complete accuracy and truthfulness. This would lead to fewer
reports submitted to the Legislature and less information available
for legislative review.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
AB 1566
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Citizens for California High Speed Rail Accountability
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Rick Farinelli, District 3 Supervisor, County of Madera
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by:William Herms / A. & A.R. / (916) 319-3600