BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SCA 14 Hearing Date: 6/8/16
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Author: |Wolk |
|-----------+-----------------------------------------------------|
|Version: |6/1/16 |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Urgency: | |Fiscal: |Yes |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
| | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: Legislative procedure
DIGEST
This measure would 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
house, as specified, and require 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.
ANALYSIS
Existing law :
1)Requires, pursuant to the California Constitution, that the
proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the
committees thereof be open and public, except as specified.
2)Provides , pursuant to the California Constitution, that 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 roll call vote entered in the
journal, three fourths of the membership concurring.
3)Prohibits, pursuant to the California Constitution, either
house from passing a bill until the bill with amendments has
been printed and distributed to the Members of the
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 2
of ?
Legislature.
4)Requires, pursuant to statute, the Legislative Counsel 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.
5)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.
This bill :
1)Provides that it shall be known, and may be cited, as the
"California Legislature Transparency Act."
2)Finds and declares 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
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 3
of ?
technology, there is no reason why public legislative
proceedings should remain relatively inaccessible to the
public.
1)States, that 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 vote in the second
house is taken, except in cases of a state of emergency
declared by the Governor.
1)Provides, commencing January 1, 2018, that 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. Expenditures made in furtherance of this
provision are not subject to existing limitations to the
Legislature's budget enacted pursuant to Proposition 140 of
1990.
2)Provides that 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
roll call vote, two-thirds of the membership concurring, this
requirement may be waived for a bill if the Governor has
declared a state of emergency, as specified.
3)Provides that in the event that this measure and another
measure that imposes transparency requirements on the
Legislature 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
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 4
of ?
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.
BACKGROUND
The Munger/Blakeslee Initiative . This measure, along with AB
884 (Gordon), which is also before this committee today, are
similar in intent to an initiative measure that is currently
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
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 5
of ?
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,
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
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 6
of ?
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
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
According to the author : SCA 14 would amend the California
Constitution to prohibit the Legislature from voting on a bill
unless the bill, with any amendments, has been in print and
published in its final form on the Internet for at least 72
hours prior to the final vote in the second house. The 72 hour
requirement would apply to all bills except those
necessary to address an emergency declared by the Governor and
with a 2/3 vote in each house concurring prior to the vote on
the bill.
Historically, there have been many occasions when significant
legislation has been voted upon and approved with little time
for legislators, the press, and the public at large, to read,
review, analyze, and comment on the merits of the bill.
SCA 14, if approved by the voters in November of 2016, would
provide the public more time to review legislation and express
SCA 14 (Wolk) Page 7
of ?
their views to their elected representatives on the merits of
legislation, providing greater transparency and accountability
to the legislative process, while still allowing for expedited
action in case of an emergency.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SCA 10 (Wolk, of 2013), ACA 1 (Olsen, of 2015), SCA 3 (Morrell,
of 2015), and SCA 10 (Huff, of 2015), are all similar to this
measure as it relates to making bills available for a specified
time period prior to consideration. None of these prior bills
however, were heard in policy committee.
AB 884 (Gordon), which is also before this committee today,
establishes how the Legislature will arrange for audiovisual
recording and disclosure of the Legislature's activities and is
contingent upon voter approval of SCA 14 (Wolk).
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: Rural County Representatives of California
Oppose: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
-- END --