BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular Session
SB 330 (Mendoza) - Public officers: contracts: financial
interest.
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|Version: February 23, 2015 |Policy Vote: GOV. & F. 7 - 0 |
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|Urgency: No |Mandate: Yes |
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|Hearing Date: May 28, 2015 |Consultant: Mark McKenzie |
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SUSPENSE FILE. AS AMENDED.
Bill
Summary: SB 330 would specify that an elected state or local
official is deemed to have a prohibited financial interest in a
public contract if the public official's spouse, child, parent,
sibling, or spouse of the child, parent, or sibling has a
financial interest in that contract, as specified.
Fiscal Impact (as approved on May 28,
2015): Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) costs of up
to $211,000 (General Fund) annually for 1/2 PY of legal staff to
handle increased requests for written advice in
conflict-of-interest cases, and 1 PY of staff for increased
enforcement caseload (1/2 PY of legal staff and 1/2 PY of
SB 330 (Mendoza) Page 1 of
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investigative staff).
Background: Existing law prohibits members of the Legislature and state,
county, district, judicial district, and city officers or
employees from having a financial interest in any contract made
in their official capacity, or by any body or board of which
they are members. (Government Code Section 1090) Existing law
also specifies circumstances under which an officer or employee
is exempt from the prohibitions against having a financial
interest in public contracts.
Existing law authorizes the FPPC to enforce Section 1090
violations by bringing an administrative or civil action against
a person subject to public contract conflict-of-interest
provisions, as specified. Existing law also authorizes public
officials who are subject to Section 1090 to request an opinion
or advice from the FPPC regarding prohibitions against having a
financial interest in public contracts.
Proposed Law:
SB 330 would, on or after January 1, 2017, expand the
circumstances that give rise to a prohibited financial interest
in a public contract. Specifically, this bill would deem an
elected state or local officer to have a prohibited financial
interest in a contract if the official's spouse, child, parent,
sibling, or the spouse of the child, parent, or sibling has a
financial interest in a contract made by the officer in his or
her official capacity, or by any body, board, or commission of
which that officer is a member.
This bill requires that the same standards used to determine a
public officer's financial interest under current law must be
used to determine a financial interest with respect to any of
the specified family relations. An individual lobbying on
behalf of a contracting party would be considered an agent of
that party for purposes of determining a prohibited financial
interest.
Related
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Legislation: AB 1090 (Fong), Chap 650/2013, expanded FPPC
authority regarding enforcement of violations of Government Code
Section 1090, dealing with elected officials'
conflicts-of-interest in public agency contracts, and required
FPPC to provide opinions and advice with respect to Section
1090.
Staff
Comments: This bill would strengthen conflict-of-interest laws
by prohibiting lobbying efforts or financial interests of
certain family members from unduly influencing state and local
officials' public contracting decisions.
The FPPC anticipates that this bill will result in a significant
increase in requests from public officials for Section 1090
legal opinions and advice to determine whether they may have a
financial interest in a contract as a result of a family
relationship. The expanded conflict-of-interest provisions are
also expected to result in additional FPPC enforcement action.
The FPPC indicates it would incur additional costs of $210,934
annually for 1-1/2 PY of staff time within the legal and
enforcement divisions, as specified above. There could be some
offsetting penalty and fine revenues, but they are
unquantifiable at this time.
By expanding the prohibitions against public officials'
financial interests in contracts, the bill creates a new crime,
thereby imposing a state-mandated local program. Any local
costs related to the enforcement of the new crimes are not
reimbursable from the state, pursuant to the California
Constitution and existing statute.
Author amendments (as adopted on May 28, 2015): Proposed
author's amendments would:
Make the bill subject to existing provisions of Section
1090.
Limit the conflicts-of-interest to individual members of
the governing entity, rather than the entire governing
body.
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