BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SCA 14|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SCA 14
Author: Wolk (D)
Amended: 6/9/16
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-1, 6/8/16
AYES: Allen, Hancock, Hertzberg, Liu
NOES: Anderson
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 6/13/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Legislative procedure
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This constitutional amendment prohibits 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 requires the
Legislature to make audiovisual recordings of the open and
public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the
committees thereof.
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.
SCA 14
Page 2
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
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 that violates this prohibition is
guilty of a misdemeanor.
This constitutional amendment:
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
SCA 14
Page 3
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.
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 votes are taken,
except in cases of a state of emergency declared by the
Governor.
1)Prohibits 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 and
requires 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
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Page 4
second house. Authorizes the Legislature to waive these
requirements, as prescribed, if specified requirements are met
with respect to a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
2)Provides that, commencing January 1, 2018, the Legislature
shall do all of the following with respect to its open and
public proceedings:
a) 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.
b) 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.
c) 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.
d) Provide all audiovisual recordings 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.
1)Requires the Legislature to enact laws to implement the
provisions regarding audiovisual recordings, provided that,
after the 2015-16 Regular Session of the Legislature, a bill
doing so 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.
2)Provides that expenditures made in furtherance of the
audiovisual recording requirements provision are not subject
to existing limitations to the Legislature's budget enacted
pursuant to Proposition 140 of 1990 but requires the
Legislature to make sufficient funds available to carry out
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these purposes.
3)Provides that in the event that this measure and another
measure that imposes similar 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
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), 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
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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
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
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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
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, Statutes 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
SCA 14
Page 8
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
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
AB 884 (Gordon, 2016) 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).
SCA 10 (Wolk, of 2013), ACA 1 (Olsen, of 2015), SCA 3 (Morrell,
of 2015), and SCA 10 (Huff, of 2015), were 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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
The Legislature would incur one-time General Fund costs of up
to $2 million to purchase audiovisual recording equipment, and
about $1 million in ongoing General Fund costs related to
personnel and storage of the audiovisual recordings. The
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measure explicitly excludes these costs from the Legislature's
annual budget, which is subject to limits established by
Proposition 140 of 1990, and requires the Legislature to make
sufficient funding available for these purposes.
One-time General Fund costs in the range of $414,000 to
$552,000 to the Secretary of State (SOS) for printing and
mailing costs to place the measure on the ballot in the next
statewide election.
SUPPORT: (Verified6/13/16)
California Newspaper Publishers Association
Rural County Representatives of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/13/16)
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Charles T. Munger, Jr and Sam Blakeslee, Former Senator
(California Legislature Transparency Act Proponents)
Prepared by:Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106
6/14/16 16:52:08
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