BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1190
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 25, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 1190
(Jackson) - As Amended August 19, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill prohibits a Coastal Commissioner or an interested
person from intentionally conducting any ex parte and other
communication, as specified, and requires the Commission to
adopt a policy to prohibit Commissioners from unduly influencing
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Commission staff. Specifically, this bill:
1)Prohibits a commissioner or an interested party from
intentionally conducting either an ex parte communication or
an oral or written communication, regarding a pending
enforcement investigation that does not occur in a public
hearing, workshop, or other official proceeding, or on the
official record of the proceeding.
2)Exempts from ex parte prohibitions, any communication
conducted by a Commissioner while acting in his or her
capacity as a local government official, if the communication
occurred before the matter appeared before the Commission.
3)Exempts from ex parte prohibitions, site visits, as specified.
4)Requires a Commissioner to fully disclose and make public ex
parte and other prohibited communications by providing a full
report to the Executive Director within seven days after the
communication, or to the Commission in writing to be included
in the record of the proceeding if the communication occurred
less than seven days prior to the hearing.
5)Prohibits a Commissioner from voting or participating in a
Commission matter if he or she has conducted an ex parte or
other prohibited communication.
6)Requires the Commission to adopt a policy, in a duly noticed
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hearing, to prohibit a Commissioner or alternate from using or
attempting to use his or her official position to place undue
influence on Commission staff. Disqualifies a commissioner
from holding any position at the Commission if they willfully
attempt to place undue influence on staff.
Additionally, this bill:
1)Requires the Commission to provide public access to all
meetings vial telephone and video conferencing on or before
July 1, 2017.
2)Requires Commission staff to include references to any
materials submitted for the public record determined not to
relate to a matter within the Commission's jurisdiction in the
staff report executive summary.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)Increased ongoing annual staffing costs associated with
providing video teleconferencing, likely in the range of
$200,000 to $300,000 for each location that is made available
for the public to attend and conference-in to the Commission
meeting.
2)Increased one-time equipment costs, likely in the $50,000
range for each video conference site.
3)Potential unknown cost pressures to hire staff advisors to
assist the six public Commissioners with gathering and
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analyzing information to inform decisions.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill will help restore
the public's trust in the Commission, ensure decisions are
made more openly and transparently, and remove the possibility
of back-room decision making or the perception that it is
happening. The author further states that this bill will
level the playing field between big-moneyed interests and
those without such financial resources.
2)Prior Hearing. This Committee heard and passed amendments on
August 11, 2016. Following that action, the bill was amended
on the floor, and returned to this Committee pursuant to Rule
77.2.
3)Further Amendments. The author, in consultation with the
Committee and others, is proposing the following revisions
and clarifications:
a) A revision to specify all Commission meetings provide
for public participation, including public testimony,
through telephone and the internet.
b) A clarification regarding the use of information
determined not to relate to matters within the Commission's
jurisdiction.
c) A clarification regarding communications that occurred
prior to the time matters were pending before the
Commission.
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d) A technical clarification regarding the requirement for
the Commission to adopt a Board policy regarding the use of
undue influence on staff.
A mock-up of the proposed amendments is attached.
Amendments Mock-up for 2015-2016 SB-1190 (Jackson (S))
Amended Assembly 8/19/16
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 30315 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
30315. (a) The commission shall meet at least 11 times annually
at a place convenient to the public. Each meeting shall occur
not more than 45 days after the previous meeting. All meetings
of the commission shall be open to the public.
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(b) A majority of the total appointed membership of the
commission shall constitute a quorum. An action taken by the
commission under this division requires a majority vote of the
members present at the meeting of the commission, with a quorum
being present, unless otherwise specifically provided for in
this division.
(c) Commencing on or before July 1, 2017, the commission also
shall provide for public access to participation at all
commission meetings via telephone and the internet. video
conferencing. Participation shall include real time testimony
during public comment.
SEC. 2. Section 30321 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
30321. (a) For purposes of this article, "a matter within the
commission's jurisdiction" means any permit action, federal
consistency review, appeal, local coastal program, port master
plan, public works plan, long-range development plan,
categorical or other exclusions from coastal development permit
requirements, or any other quasi-judicial matter requiring
commission action, for which an application has been submitted
to the commission.
(b) Commission staff shall include in the executive summary
section of a staff report a list of references to any materials
submitted for the public record that are determined not to
relate to a matter within the commission's jurisdiction,
including information about how to locate copies of those
materials in an addendum . The addendum shall include
instructions regarding the use of the information contained in
these communications as a basis or influencing factor upon their
decision.
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SEC. 3. Section 30322 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
30322. (a) For purposes of this article, except as provided in
subdivision (b), an "ex parte communication" is any oral or
written communication between a member of the commission and an
interested person, about a matter within the commission's
jurisdiction, which does not occur in a public hearing,
workshop, or other official proceeding, or on the official
record of the proceeding on the matter.
(b) The following communications are not ex parte
communications:
(1) Any communication between a staff member acting in his or
her official capacity and any commission member or interested
person.
(2) Any communication limited entirely to procedural issues,
including, but not limited to, the hearing schedule, location,
format, or filing date.
(3) Any communication which takes place on the record during an
official proceeding of a state, regional, or local agency that
involves a member of the commission who also serves as an
official of that agency.
(4) Any communication between a member of the commission, with
regard to any action of another state agency or of a regional or
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local agency of which the member is an official, and any other
official or employee of that agency, including any person who is
acting as an attorney for the agency.
(5) Any communication between a nonvoting commission member and
a staff member of a state agency where both the commission
member and the staff member are acting in an official capacity.
(6) Any communication to a nonvoting commission member relating
to an action pending before the commission, where the nonvoting
commission member does not participate in that action, either
through written or verbal communication, on or off the record,
with other members of the commission.
(7) Any communication conducted by a commission member while
acting in his or her capacity as a local government official and
prior to the time the matter to which the communication applies
was pending before the commission. This paragraph shall not be
construed to mean that any other commissioner has conducted an
ex parte communication on a matter if the communication occurred
before the matter was pending before the commission.
(8) Any project site visit conducted pursuant to subdivision (b)
of Section 30324.
SEC. 4. Section 30324 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
30324. (a) No commission member, nor any interested person,
shall intentionally conduct either of the following:
(1) An ex parte communication. communication on a matter within
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the commission's jurisdiction, as defined by Section 30321.
(2) An oral or written communication regarding a pending
enforcement investigation that does not occur in a public
hearing, workshop, or other official proceeding, or on the
official record of the proceeding on the matter.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), commission members and
commission staff may conduct a project site visit if the
proposed site visit is approved by a majority vote of the
commission and with the permission of the property owner. A
description of the site visit shall be a part of the public
record of the matter to which the project site pertains and any
communications conducted during the site visit shall be limited
to those between commission members and staff.
(c) (1) If a commission member, or any interested person,
conducts a communication that is in violation of subdivision
(a), the commission member shall fully disclose and make public
the communication by providing a full report of the
communication to the executive director within seven days after
the communication or, if the communication occurs within seven
days of the next commission hearing, to the commission in
writing to be included on the record of the proceeding at that
hearing.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 30327, if a commission member
conducts a communication that is in violation of subdivision
(a), he or she shall not vote on or otherwise participate in any
commission proceeding to which the communication applies.
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(d) (1) The commission shall adopt standard disclosure forms for
reporting communications that are in violation of subdivision
(a), which shall include, but not be limited to, all of the
following information:
(A) The date, time, and location of the communication.
(B) (i) The identity of the person or persons initiating and the
person or persons receiving the communication.
(ii) The identity of the person on whose behalf the
communication was made.
(iii) The identity of all persons present during the
communication.
(C) A complete, comprehensive description of the content of the
communication, including a complete set of all text and graphic
material that was part of the communication.
(2) The executive director shall place in the public record any
report made pursuant to this section.
SEC. 5 Section 30327.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
30327.2. (a) The commission shall adopt, at a duly noticed
public hearing, a board policy that prohibits a commission
member or alternate from using or attempting to use his or her
official position to place undue influence, as defined by
Section 1575 of the Civil Code, on commission staff, including,
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but not limited to, the contents of staff reports.
(b) This section shall not be construed to prohibit a
commissioner or alternate from communicating with, or providing
information to, commission staff members about matters before
the commission.
(c) A commission member or alternate who willfully violates
subdivision (a) is forever disqualified from holding any
position at the commission.
(d) This section is intended to protect the public interest by
ensuring that commission members and alternates do not unduly
influence the contents of a staff report, analysis, or
recommendation.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081