BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                     SCA 14


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          SENATE THIRD READING


          SCA  
          14 (Wolk)


          As Amended  June 17, 2016


          2/3 vote


          SENATE VOTE:  27-8


           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 
          |Committee       |Votes|Ayes                  |Noes                |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Rules           |7-2  |Gordon, Arambula,     |Jones, Waldron      |
          |                |     |Cooley, Gomez,        |                    |
          |                |     |Holden, Quirk,        |                    |
          |                |     |Rodriguez             |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
          |Appropriations  |14-5 |Gonzalez, Bloom,      |Bigelow, Gallagher, |
          |                |     |Bonilla, Bonta,       |Jones, Obernolte,   |
          |                |     |Calderon, Daly,       |Wagner              |
          |                |     |Eggman, Eduardo       |                    |
          |                |     |Garcia, Roger         |                    |
          |                |     |Hernández, Holden,    |                    |
          |                |     |Quirk, Santiago,      |                    |
          |                |     |Weber, Wood           |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
          |                |     |                      |                    |
           ------------------------------------------------------------------ 








                                                                     SCA 14


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          SUMMARY:  Prohibits the Legislature from passing a bill in  
          either house until the bill has been available to the public for  
          at least 72 hours before the vote, and requires the Legislature  
          to make audiovisual recordings of public legislative proceedings  
          including floor sessions and committee hearings.  Specifically,  
          this bill:  


          1)Requires, beginning January 1, 2018, that the Legislature make  
            audiovisual recordings of all floor sessions of each house of  
            the Legislature and the standing committees thereof at which a  
            vote is taken or other action is recorded.  Also, requires  
            that the Legislature make audiovisual recordings of public  
            committee proceedings held in the State Capitol Building, such  
            as an informational hearing, where no vote is taken or action  
            is recorded.


          2)Requires, beginning January 1, 2018, that the Legislature make  
            reasonable efforts to audio visually record all public  
            committee proceedings held outside of the State Capitol  
            Building.


          3)Requires, beginning January 1, 2018, that the Legislature make  
            reasonable efforts to broadcast, in real time, all public  
            proceedings of the Legislature and the committees thereof that  
            are held in the State Capitol Building.


          4)Requires, beginning January 1, 2018, that the Legislature  
            authorize members of the public who attend public legislative  
            proceedings to make and broadcast recordings of the  
            proceedings, subject to reasonable restrictions that ensure  
            public safety and prevent disruption of the proceedings.










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          5)Requires the Legislature to provide all of its 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.


          6)Requires the Legislature to enact laws necessary to implement  
            the provisions of this measure and provides that the necessary  
            expenditures made in furtherance of the requirements in this  
            measure are not subject to existing limitations on the  
            Legislature's budget that were enacted by Proposition 140 of  
            1990.


          7)Reduces the period of time that an introduced bill must be in  
            print before a committee may hear or act on that bill from 30  
            days to 15 days.  Retains the 30-day in-print requirement for  
            bills to be heard or acted on by the floor of either house.


          8)Prohibits a bill from being passed in either house until the  
            bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to  
            the public by publishing it on the Internet for at least 72  
            hours before the vote in that house.  This requirement may be  
            waived by a two-thirds vote, if the Governor has declared a  
            state of emergency and submitted a written statement to the  
            Legislature identifying the bill as necessary to address the  
            emergency.


          9)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  
            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  








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            measure or measures shall be null and void in their entirety.


          EXISTING LAW:


          1)Requires, pursuant to California Constitution Article IV  
            Section 7, that the proceedings of each house of the  
            Legislature and the committees thereof be open and public,  
            except as specified.


          2)Prohibits, pursuant to California Constitution Article IV  
            Section 8, a bill other than the budget bill to be heard or  
            acted on by a committee or either house until the 31st day  
            after the bill is introduced, except by a three-fourths vote.


          3)Prohibits, pursuant to California Constitution Article IV  
            Section 8, either house from passing a bill until the bill,  
            with amendments, has been printed and distributed to the  
            Members.


          4)Prohibits, pursuant to statute, a television signal generated  
            by the Assembly from being used for any political or  
            commercial purpose.  This restriction does not limit use of  
            the signal by an accredited news organization or nonprofit  
            organization for educational or public affairs programming.


          5)Requires, pursuant to statute, the Legislative Counsel to make  
            specified information available to the public in electronic  
            form, including:  the schedule of legislative committee  
            hearings; a list of matters pending on the floors of both  
            houses; the text, analysis, bill history, and vote information  
            of each bill; and, all statutes enacted on or after January 1,  
            1993.









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          FISCAL EFFECT:  According to the Senate Appropriations  
          Committee:


          1)The Legislature would incur one-time General Fund costs of up  
            to $2 million to purchase audiovisual recording equipment, and  
            approximately $1 million in ongoing General Fund costs related  
            to personnel and storage of the audiovisual recordings.  This  
            bill excludes these costs from the Legislature's annual  
            budget, which is subject to the limits established in 1990 by  
            Proposition 140.  This bill, however, requires that the  
            Legislature make sufficient funding available for these  
            purposes.


          2)One-time General Fund costs ranging from $414,000 to $552,000  
            to the Secretary of State for printing and mailing costs  
            associated with placing the measure on the ballot in the next  
            statewide election.


          COMMENTS:  


          1)Purpose:  In support of this bill, the author states:


               SCA 14 would amend the California Constitution to  
               prohibit the Legislature from approving a bill unless  
               the bill, with any amendments, has been published on  
               the Internet for at least 72 hours prior to the vote  
               in that 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.










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               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.


          2)Recording by the public:  This bill allows recording of  
            legislative proceedings by the public, subject to reasonable  
            restrictions such as preventing disruption of the proceedings  
            and ensuring public safety.  This addresses public safety  
            concerns raised during the joint initiative hearing held on  
            June 15, 2016, by the Assembly Rules Committee and the Senate  
            Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee.


          3)In-print requirement:  This bill reduces the 30-day in-print  
            requirement for introduced bills to 15 days before a committee  
            may hear or act on a bill.  This will allow committees more  
            time to amend, analyze, and hear bills.  It will also provide  
            the public more time to participate and provide feedback on  
            legislation.  This bill retains the 30-day in-print  
            requirement for action on the floor of the house of origin.


          4)Competing proposal:  This bill, along with AB 884 (Gordon) of  
            the current legislative session, is similar in intent to an  
            initiative measure titled the California Legislature  
            Transparency Act (CLTA), which is currently pending signature  
            verification.








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               a)     Amendments to this bill since June 1 reflect an  
                 effort to clarify the initiative's ambiguities,  
                 particularly related to the 72-hour rule.  The June 1  
                 version interpreted "final form" and "the vote" to mean  
                 the vote on the floor of the second house, which is where  
                 most bills become final.  The June 9 version added a  
                 provision to ensure that the house of origin had three  
                 days to vote on that final version, in the unusual case  
                 where the bill would not return to the house of origin  
                 for concurrence and the bill had not had three days in  
                 the house of origin.  The current version concedes to the  
                 initiative proponents' argument that they intended to  
                 give the first house three days to review the bill before  
                 "dismissing" the bill from the house, without regard to  
                 whether the bill was in the "final form."  This bill  
                 therefore would clarify the ambiguity in the favor of the  
                 initiative proponents, despite the additional burden  
                 imposed by the current version.  It does not reflect how  
                 the Legislature may interpret the "final form" ambiguity  
                 if the voters ultimately approve the initiative and not  
                 this bill.


          5)Resolving ambiguities:  This bill resolves a number of  
            identified ambiguities in the California Legislature  
            Transparency Act initiative that could result in the  
            initiative not having the intended legal effect, including:


               a)     Passage of a bill:  This bill explicitly states that  
                 no bill shall become a statute if it fails to comply with  
                 the provisions of this bill.  This enforcement clause  
                 resolves the ambiguity in the initiative which provides  
                 that "no bill may be passed or ultimately become a  
                 statute" because California Constitution Article IV  
                 Section 10 provides the requirements for bills to become  
                 statutes.  This unnecessary language could be interpreted  








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                 to mean that a bill's failure to comply with the other  
                 requirements in Article IV Section 8 would not prevent  
                 that bill from becoming a statute.


               b)     72-hour requirement:  This bill explicitly provides  
                 that a bill must be published on the Internet "for at  
                 least 72 hours before the vote in that house."  Unlike  
                 the language in the initiative which requires that bills  
                 be in print for "72 hours before the vote," this bill  
                 ensures that bills will be in print for 72 hours before a  
                 floor vote in either house.  The ambiguous language in  
                 the initiative could reasonably be interpreted to only  
                 apply the 72-hour requirement to the last vote before a  
                 bill is presented to the Governor.  This would not  
                 provide the public sufficient time to review bills that  
                 are amended in the other house of the Legislature.


               c)     Final form of a bill:  This bill also ensures that  
                 the 72-hour requirement applies to the "form to be voted  
                 on," guaranteeing that amendments to a bill are in print  
                 for the intended 72 hours in each house.  The initiative,  
                 on the other hand, uses ambiguous "final form" language  
                 which could reasonably be interpreted to only require 72  
                 hours on the final version of the bill that is presented  
                 to the Governor.


          6)Option for initiative withdrawal:  Pursuant to SB 1253  
            (Steinberg), Chapter 697, Statutes of 2014, proponents of a  
            statewide initiative or referendum measure are now allowed to  
            withdraw the measure after filing the petitions with the  
            Secretary of State at any time before the measure qualifies  
            for the ballot (131 days prior to the election at which the  
            measure will appear).  This provides a mechanism for a  
            proponent to remove a ballot initiative when the proponent  
            comes to some form of negotiated resolution, such as an  
            alternative passed by the Legislature.








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            This bill has demonstrated how the negotiation process,  
            intended by SB 1253, on an initiative should occur.  This bill  
            was introduced as an alternative to the CLTA, has had numerous  
            public hearings, and has been significantly amended to address  
            concerns raised in those public hearings by the initiative  
            proponents and others.


            Development of amendments to this bill since June 1 has  
            involved discussion among representatives of the authors (SCA  
            14/AB 884), majority leadership offices, the Secretary of the  
            Senate, and the Assembly Rules Committee, in an effort to  
            interpret and clarify the meaning of the initiative's language  
            through amendments to this bill and AB 884.


          7)Prior legislation:  This bill is similar to the following  
            prior bills which would have required bills be available for a  
            specified period of time prior to consideration:  SCA 10  
            (Wolk), of 2013, ACA 1 (Olsen), of the current legislative  
            session, SCA 3 (Morrell), of the current legislative session,  
            and SCA 10 (Huff), of 2015.


          8)Related legislation:  AB 884 (Gordon), of the current  
            legislative session establishes how the Legislature will  
            arrange for audiovisual recording and disclosure of the  
            Legislature's activities, and is contingent upon voter  
            approval of this bill.  AB 884 is pending on the Senate Floor.




          Analysis Prepared by:                                             
                          Nicole Willis / RLS. / (916) 319-2800  FN:  
          0003506









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