Amended in Senate June 9, 2016

Amended in Senate June 1, 2016

Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 14

Introduced by Senator Wolk

April 21, 2016

Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 14—A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 8 of, and by adding Section 7.3 to, Article IV thereof, relating to the Legislature.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCA 14, as amended, Wolk. Legislative procedure.

The California Constitution requires that the proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof be open and public, except as specified.

This measure, the California Legislature Transparency Act, would require the Legislature, commencing January 1, 2018, to make audiovisual recordings of the begin insert open and public end insert proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the begin delete standing end delete committees thereof, begin delete if those proceedings are required to be open and public. end delete begin insert as prescribed. The measure would require the Legislature to provide these recordings to the Legislative Counsel for purposes of making the recordings promptly available to the public and would require that the recordings remain reasonably accessible to the public for not less than 20 years. The measure would require the Legislature to enact laws to implement these provisions, provided that the bills enacting such laws would be required to be published in final form on the Internet for at least 12 days prior to the final vote in each house. end insert

The California Constitution prohibits either house from passing a bill until certain requirements are met, including that the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members of the Legislature.

This measure would additionally prohibit the Legislature from passing a bill unless the bill has been published on the Internet in its final form for at least 72 hours prior to the final vote in the second begin delete house unless specified requirements are met with respect to a state of emergency declared by the Governor. end delete begin insert house. This measure would require the house of origin to pass a bill by a second rollcall vote following the final vote in the second house if the bill, as first passed in the house of origin, had not been published on the Internet in its final form for at least 72 hours prior to that vote and was not amended thereafter in the second house. The measure would authorize the Legislature to waive these requirements, as prescribed, if specified requirements are met with respect to a state of emergency declared by the Governor. end insert

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular
Session commencing on the first day of December 2014, two-thirds
of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to
the people of the State of California that the Constitution of the
State be amended as follows:

First--  

This measure shall be known, and may be cited, as the
“California Legislature Transparency Act.”

Second--  

The people of the State of California find and declare
all of the following:

(a) It is essential to the maintenance of a democratic society
that public business be performed in an open and public manner,
and highly desirable that citizens be given the opportunity to review
fully every bill and express to their elected representatives their
views regarding a bill’s merits before it is passed.

(b) Morever, complex bills are often passed before Members
of the Legislature have any realistic opportunity to review or debate
them, resulting in ill-considered legislation.

(c) Further, 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 by the public
and press, often leaving no record of what was said.

(d) Yet, with the availability of modern recording technology,
there is no reason why public legislative proceedings should remain
relatively inaccessible to the public.

Third--  

In enacting this measure, the people of the State of
California intend the following:

(a) To enhance the ability of the people of the State of California
to observe what is happening and has happened at the Legislature’s
public proceedings so as to obtain the information necessary to
participate in the political process.

(b) To give the people of the State of California and their elected
representatives the necessary time to evaluate carefully the
strengths and weaknesses of the final version of a bill before a
vote occurs by imposing a 72-hour public notice period between
the time that the final version is published on the Internet for review
by the Legislature and the public and the time that the final begin delete vote
in the second house is end delete begin insert votes are end insert taken, except in cases of a state
of emergency declared by the Governor.

begin delete

Fourth--  

That Section 7.3 is added to Article IV thereof, to
read:

SEC. 7.3.  

Commencing January 1, 2018, the Legislature shall
cause audiovisual recordings to be made of the proceedings of
each house of the Legislature and the standing committees thereof,
if those proceedings are required to be open and public pursuant
to subdivision (c) of Section 7. Expenditures made in furtherance
of this section are not subject to Section 7.5.

end delete

begin insert

begin insert Fourth end insert begin insert -- end insert   

end insert

begin insert That Section 7.3 is added to Article IV thereof, to
read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 7.3. end insert   

(a) Commencing January 1, 2018, the Legislature
shall do all of the following with respect to its open and public
proceedings:

(1) Cause audiovisual recordings to be made of all floor sessions
of each house of the Legislature, the committee proceedings thereof
at which a vote is taken or other action is recorded, and the
committee proceedings thereof held in the State Capitol Building
regardless of whether a vote is taken or an action is recorded.

(2) Make reasonable efforts to cause audiovisual recordings to
be made of all committee proceedings held outside of the State
Capitol Building at which no vote is taken and no action is
recorded.

(3) Make reasonable efforts to broadcast to the public, in real
time, all proceedings of the Legislature and the committees thereof
that are held in the State Capitol Building.

(b) The Legislature shall provide all audiovisual recordings
made pursuant to this section to the Legislative Counsel, who shall
make the recordings promptly available to the public. The
recordings shall remain reasonably accessible to the public for
not less than 20 years.

(c) The Legislature shall enact laws to implement this section,
provided that, notwithstanding paragraph (3) of subdivision (b)
of Section 8, after the 2015-16 Regular Session of the Legislature,
a bill implementing this section shall not be passed or ultimately
become a statute unless the bill is published in its final form on
the Internet for at least 12 days prior to the final vote in each
house.

(d) (1) Expenditures made in furtherance of subdivision (a) are
not subject to Section 7.5.

(2) The Legislature shall make sufficient funds available to
carry out the purposes of this section.

end insert

Fifth--  

That Section 8 of Article IV thereof is amended to
read:

SEC. 8.  

(a) At regular sessions no bill other than the budget
bill may be heard or acted on by committee or either house until
the 31st day after the bill is introduced unless the house dispenses
with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal,
three-fourths of the membership concurring.

(b) (1) The Legislature may make no law except by statute and
may enact no statute except by bill. No bill may be passed unless
it is read by title on three days in each house except that the house
may dispense with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the
journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.

(2) No bill may be passed until it has been printed and
distributed, with amendments, to the Members.

begin delete

(3) No bill may be passed until it has been published on the
Internet in its final form for at least 72 hours prior to the final vote
in the second house. Upon a rollcall vote, two-thirds of the
membership concurring, the requirement of this paragraph may
be waived for a bill if the Governor has declared a state of
emergency, as defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section
3 of Article XIII B, and has submitted a written statement to the
Legislature identifying the bill as necessary to address the
emergency.

end delete begin insert

(3) (A) No bill may be passed until it has been published on
the Internet in its final form for at least 72 hours prior to the final
vote in the second house.

end insert begin insert

(B) If a bill is passed by the house of origin without having been
published on the Internet in its final form for at least 72 hours
prior to that vote and the bill is not amended thereafter in the
second house, then the bill may not be passed except by a second
rollcall vote in the house of origin following the final vote in the
second house.

end insert begin insert

(C) Upon a rollcall vote, two-thirds of the membership
concurring, the requirements of this paragraph may be waived for
a bill if the Governor has declared a state of emergency, as defined
in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Article XIII B,
and has submitted a written statement to the Legislature identifying
the bill as necessary to address the emergency.

end insert begin insert

(D) No bill shall become a statute that fails to comply with the
requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B) and for which no
waiver is obtained pursuant to subparagraph (C).

end insert

(4) No bill may be passed unless, by rollcall vote entered in the
journal, a majority of the membership of each house concurs.

(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this
subdivision, a statute enacted at a regular session shall go into
effect on January 1 next following a 90-day period from the date
of enactment of the statute and a statute enacted at a special session
shall go into effect on the 91st day after adjournment of the special
session at which the bill was passed.

(2) A statute, other than a statute establishing or changing
boundaries of any legislative, congressional, or other election
district, enacted by a bill passed by the Legislature on or before
the date the Legislature adjourns for a joint recess to reconvene in
the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session,
and in the possession of the Governor after that date, shall go into
effect on January 1 next following the enactment date of the statute
unless, before January 1, a copy of a referendum petition affecting
the statute is submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 10 of Article II, in which event the
statute shall go into effect on the 91st day after the enactment date
unless the petition has been presented to the Secretary of State
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9 of Article II.

(3) Statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies
or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and
urgency statutes shall go into effect immediately upon their
enactment.

(d) Urgency statutes are those necessary for immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. A statement of
facts constituting the necessity shall be set forth in one section of
the bill. In each house the section and the bill shall be passed
separately, each by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds
of the membership concurring. An urgency statute may not create
or abolish any office or change the salary, term, or duties of any
office, or grant any franchise or special privilege, or create any
vested right or interest.

Sixth--  

In the event that this measure and another measure
that imposes transparency requirements on the Legislature, such
as requirements to make audiovisual recordings of legislative
proceedings or to specify the amount of time a bill must be publicly
available before it may be passed, appear on the same statewide
ballot, the provisions of the other measure or measures shall be
deemed to be in conflict with this measure. In the event that this
measure receives a greater number of affirmative votes than a
measure deemed to be in conflict with it, the provisions of this
measure shall prevail in their entirety, and the other measure or
measures shall be null and void in their entirety.