BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON INSURANCE
Senator Richard Roth, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 260 Hearing Date: April 8,
2015
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|Author: |Monning |
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|Version: |February 18, 2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Hugh Slayden |
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Subject: Insurance: reports: electronic submission
SUMMARY Establishes standards and procedures applicable to electronic
copies of reports or studies required under the Insurance Code
that are submitted directly to legislative committees.
DIGEST
Existing law
1. Provides that any report required by law to be submitted to
the Legislature generally shall instead be submitted as a
printed copy to the Secretary of the Senate, as an
electronic copy to the Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and as
an electronic or printed copy to the Legislative Counsel.
(Government Code § 9795.)
2. Requires the Legislative Counsel to publish an electronic
list of all reports to be submitted to the Legislature,
Governor, or both. The list includes a description of the
subject of the report, the date on which the report is to be
filed, the date the report was filed with the Legislative
Counsel, and a hyperlink to any reports posted on the
Internet. (Government Code § 10242.5.)
3. Requires various entities to submit certain reports
directly to specified committees or officers of the
Legislature, some of which are authorized to be submitted
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electronically.
This bill
1. Requires any report required to be submitted to a
legislative committee, rather than the Legislature
generally, by the Insurance Code to also be submitted to
Legislative Counsel.
2. Provides that specified reports may be submitted to
electronically.
3. Requires that if a report is submitted to a committee
electronically, it must be provided in one of the following
ways:
a. Directly to a person or an account designated by the
committee to receive reports.
b. On permanent media by first class mail.
c. By placing the on the entity's website and notifying
the committee as provided.
4. Requires reports submitted electronically to be provided in
a standard format accessible by software that is provided
without charge.
COMMENTS
1. Purpose of the bill Existing law does not provide guidance
as to the format and process to submit reports required
under the Insurance Code to legislative committees.
Additionally, some reporting requirements permit or mandate
submission by electronic means, while others require a
hardcopy. This bill would establish a consistent policy
regarding electronic reports that also reflects individual
committee preferences and processes.
2. Background California law requires a multitude of reports
from various agencies and entities. Standards for reports
submitted to the Legislature are established under
Government Code Section 9795 and 10242.5. Legislative
Counsel tracks those reports and posts relevant information,
including the submission date, on a dedicated website at
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http://agencyreports.ca.gov/ . The journals of each house
also note receipt. But these procedures do not apply to a
report submitted directly to a committee; there is no
long-term or system-wide means of tracking reporting
requirement compliance. This bill would establish
procedures specific to some reports that usually bypass
Government Code procedures because they are submitted
directly to a committee.
Additionally, those reporting requirements that allow or
require reports to be submitted electronically do not
provide standards or guidance related to how or to whom the
report should be submitted. For example, a report submitted
by mail is automatically processed by the appropriate
committee staff whether it is addressed to that staff person
or not, but email must be specifically and appropriately
addressed. This bill establishes minimum standards for the
electronic submission of reports.
This committee heard a similar bill, SB 1065 (Monning), last
year, but when that bill left the committee it provided a
blanket authorization for reports to be submitted
electronically (exempting specified reports) and did not
require that reports be filed with the Legislative Counsel.
The author was unable to complete discussions among various
committees and the entities impacted by the bill while the
bill was in the Assembly. This bill picks up where SB 1065
left off.
3. Support The American Federation of State, County, and
Municipal Employees (AFSCME) supports this bill because it
would facilitate the availability of reports and increase
government transparency.
4. Opposition None received.
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5. Prior and Related Legislation
a. 1365 (J. Perez), Chapter 192, Statutes of 2013,
revised the standards and procedures related to reports
required by state and local agencies that are directed to
the Legislature when the report is submitted to the
Legislative Counsel in electronic format.
b. SB 71 (Leno), Chapter 728, Statutes of 2012, modified
various requirements of certain reports by requiring
specified reports be placed on the Internet Web site of
the reporting agency rather than submitted to the
Legislature or other state agencies.
c. AB 1585 (Huber), Chapter 7, Statutes of 2010,
eliminated obsolete reports and revised the procedure for
mandatory reporting requirements. Also revised the report
requirement so that a report must be submitted to the
Chief Clerk of the Assembly as an electronic copy.
POSITIONS
Support
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees
(AFSCME)
Oppose
None received.
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