BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
ELECTIONS AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Ben Allen, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 1349 Hearing Date: 4/5/16
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|Author: |Hertzberg |
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|Version: |3/28/16 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Darren Chesin |
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Subject: Political Reform Act of 1974: Secretary of State:
online filing system
DIGEST
This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in consultation
with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), to develop
and certify for public use a new online filing system for
statements and reports that provide public disclosure of
campaign finance and lobbying information in a user-friendly,
easily understandable format.
ANALYSIS
Existing law:
1)Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to provide
online and electronic filing processes for use by specified
political committees, lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist
employers pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA). This
online reporting and disclosure system is commonly referred to
as the Cal-Access system.
2)Requires the SOS to make all the data filed using the online
and electronic filing process available on the Internet for
public viewing in an easily understood format.
3)Requires the SOS to provide a means or method whereby entities
that are required to file statements or reports online or
electronically with the SOS can submit those required filings
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free of charge.
4)Requires all state candidates and state political committees
that are required to file campaign reports to file those
reports online or electronically if the cumulative amount of
contributions received, expenditures made, loans made, or
loans received is $25,000 or more.
5)Provides that the Department of Technology and the Department
of General Services maintain specified oversight
responsibilities regarding state informational technology
procurements.
This bill:
1)Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to develop
and certify for public use a new online filing system for
statements and reports that provide public disclosure of
campaign finance and lobbying information in a user-friendly,
easily understandable format.
2)Provides that the new system shall enable a user to comply
with all of the disclosure requirements within the PRA.
3)Requires the new system to include a data-driven means or
method that allows filers to submit required filings free of
charge and does all of the following:
a) Enables a filer to comply with all of the disclosure
requirements of this title, including by entering or
uploading requisite data or by indicating that the filer
had no reportable activity during a particular reporting
period.
b) Retains previously-submitted data so that a filer can
access that data to amend disclosures or prepare future
disclosures.
c) Ensures the security of data entered and stored in the
system.
d) To the extent feasible, is compatible with potential
future capability to accept statements from filers who are
candidates for and holders of specified local offices,
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elected members of the Board of Administration of the
Public Employees' Retirement System, elected members of the
Teachers' Retirement Board, as well as their controlled
committees, and committees formed or existing primarily to
support or oppose these candidates or elected officials.
No later than December 31, 2017, the SOS must provide a
report to the Assembly Committee on Elections and
Redistricting and the Senate Committee on Elections and
Constitutional Amendments that includes a plan for
accepting these filings.
1)Requires the new system to include the definition of a
nonproprietary standardized record format or formats using
industry standards for the transmission of the data that is
required of those persons and entities required to file online
and that conforms with the disclosure requirements of the PRA.
2)Provides that the SOS accept test files from software vendors
and others wishing to file reports electronically for the
purpose of determining whether the file format is in
compliance with the standardized record format developed
pursuant to this bill and is compatible with the SOS's new
system for receiving the data. The SOS shall publish and make
available to the public a list of the software and service
providers who have submitted acceptable test files. A filer
shall submit acceptably formatted files in order to meet the
requirements of this chapter.
3)Requires the SOS to make the data filed available on the
Internet as follows:
a) In a user-friendly, easily understandable format that
provides the greatest public access, including online
searches and machine-readable downloads.
b) Free of charge and as soon as possible after receipt,
or, in the case of late contribution and late independent
expenditure reports, as defined, within 24 hours of
receipt.
c) Not contain the street name or building number of the
persons or entity representatives listed on the
electronically filed forms or any bank account number
required to be disclosed pursuant to the PRA.
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d) In a manner that allows the public to track and
aggregate contributions from the same contributor across
filers using a permanent unique identifier assigned by the
SOS for this purpose to, at minimum, each contributor who
makes contributions totaling $10,000 or more in a calendar
year to, or at the behest of, candidates or committees that
file electronically with the SOS.
1)Requires the SOS to do all of the following:
a) Develop a procedure for filers to comply electronically
with the requirement to sign their submissions under
penalty of perjury. The electronic signature procedure
shall allow the filer to file with the SOS and shall not
require an original signature to be filed.
b) Maintain all filed data online for at least 10 years
after the date it is filed, and then archive the
information in a secure format.
c) Provide assistance to those seeking public access to the
information.
d) Implement sufficient technology to seek to prevent
unauthorized alteration or manipulation of the data.
e) Provide the FPPC with necessary information to enable it
to assist agencies, public officials, and others in
complying with and administering this title.
1)Provides that, in consultation with the FPPC, the SOS shall,
no later than July 31, 2017, hold at least one public hearing
to receive input on development of the online filing system
and record format.
2)Requires that the SOS shall make the new online filing system
available for use no later than February 1, 2019. The SOS may
extend this date to a date no later than December 31, 2019
after consulting with the Assembly Committee on Elections and
Redistricting and the Senate Committee on Elections and
Constitutional Amendments and providing to those committees a
report that explains the need for the extension and includes a
plan for completion.
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3) Provides that the SOS may accept any funds, services,
equipment or grants to further the goals of this bill.
4) Provides that because the provisions of this chapter need to
be implemented as expeditiously as possible, existing
information technology procurement requirements do not apply
to development of the new online filing system.
Provides that before making the new system available for public
use, the SOS shall test it to ensure its functionality and then
certify that the system accurately tracks and aggregates
contributions from the same contributor across filers. The SOS
may consult with the Department of Technology as needed to
fulfill these testing requirements.
BACKGROUND
Cal-Access Issues and MapLight Partnership . Created in 1999,
Cal-Access is the database and filing system the SOS has used to
make much of the lobbying and campaign finance information
available online at no cost to users. On November 30, 2011, the
Cal-Access system went down, and the system was unavailable for
most of the month of December. Although the system has remained
online since the cause of the failure was addressed, frequent
concerns have been expressed by users and other observers
regarding the current state and usefulness of Cal-Access.
The Legislature later enacted SB 1001 (Yee, Ch. 506 of 2012),
which imposed a $50 annual fee on political committees that are
required to file disclosure reports pursuant to the PRA and
increased the fee on lobbying firms and lobbyist employers from
$25 to $50 per year per lobbyist. The revenue generated by the
bill is deposited into the Political Disclosure, Accountability,
Transparency, and Access Fund (PDATA Fund), and is available to
be used to update or replace Cal-Access. It is estimated that
these fees result in approximately $450,000 of new revenue
yearly for the PDATA Fund. Subsequent legislative efforts to
upgrade or replace the system since passage of SB 1001 have so
far proved unsuccessful.
On September 3, 2015, the SOS announced the launching of Power
Search, a new open source campaign finance search engine
available on the SOS's website described as "the first step in
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modernizing and upgrading Cal-Access." Power Search was
developed in conjunction with MapLight, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
research organization that tracks money's influence on politics
and funded with a grant from the James Irvine Foundation.
According to the SOS, "The new Power Search tool provides an
easy-to-use interface to search campaign finance data that is
refreshed daily from the state's existing Cal-Access system."
COMMENTS
1)According to the author : Senate Bill 1349 modernizes
California's online database of campaign and lobbying
information to make it user friendly and easy for the public
to access in a timely fashion. The present Cal-Access system
is outdated, disorganized and difficult to use. Secretary of
State Alex Padilla has called it "a Frankenstein's monster of
code" that is in need of "a complete rebuild." It undermines
democracy when the public cannot easily access information
about campaign and lobbying disclosures - or easily search for
it.
SB 1349 directs the state to overhaul the Secretary of State's
antiquated Cal-Access system. It establishes important
guidelines for the project, including creating a system that
is data driven, rather than form-based, and adhering to
prevailing standards for search and open data. The bill
prescribes using cost-effective, streamlined and innovative
information technology development processes to deliver an
improved system faster. It calls for a system that permits
future compatibility with local campaign finance data.
Governor Brown has written "There is no doubt the current system
- widely viewed as outdated and cumbersome - needs upgrading."
SB 1349 is supported by Secretary of State Padilla, Common
Cause, the League of Women Voters, the California Business
Roundtable, and numerous other labor, business and reform
groups.
2) Show Me the Money . In a letter dated March 11, 2016,
Senator Hertzberg, the author of this bill, requested a
budget augmentation to allow the SOS to modernize the
Cal-Access system. In that letter, Senator Hertzberg stated
that the SOS estimated the cost of replacing the system at
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$13.5 million. While the letter does not address existing
and anticipated moneys from the PDATA Fund, it is safe to
assume that the PDATA Fund will take too long to provide
enough money to replace Cal-Access within a reasonable time
frame.
3) Technology Oversight Exemption Déjà Vu . The provision of
this bill that exempts the SOS from various information
technology requirements and from project is similar to a
provision of SB 397 (Yee, Ch. 561 of 2011), which permitted
online voter registration to begin prior to the completion of
a new statewide voter registration database.
RELATED/PRIOR LEGISLATION
SB 3 (Yee & Lieu of 2013), would have required, among other
things, the SOS to develop a feasibility study report to outline
the technology requirements and the costs of a new statewide
electronic campaign filing and disclosure system. SB 3 was
vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto message, the Governor
stated that other provisions of the bill were "costly and
unnecessary," but also acknowledged that the current campaign
filing and disclosure system needed to be upgraded and he
directed the Government Operations Agency (GOA) to consult the
FPPC and the SOS and make recommendations on the best way to
improve campaign disclosure. One of the options presented in
the GOA report was to replace Cal-Access.
SB 1442 (Lara of 2013), would have required, among other things,
the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to develop a new
statewide Internet-based system for the electronic filing and
public display of all records filed pursuant to the PRA with
search capabilities that are data-driven and user-friendly for
members of the public. SB 1442 was also vetoed by Governor
Brown. In his veto message, the Governor stated that before an
additional information technology project is authorized, the SOS
should complete the two other projects that were underway at the
time.
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Political Reform Act Modernization (PRAM) Coalition
Support: Dave Jones, Insurance Commissioner
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American Sustainable Business Council
CalChamber
California Business Roundtable
California Church IMPACT
California Clean Money Campaign
California Common Cause
California Forward
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Political Treasurers Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of the Service Employees
International Union
California Voices for Progress
CALPIRG
Campaign Legal Center
Courage Campaign
First Amendment Coalition
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
League of Women Voters of California
MapLight
National Federation of Independent Business
National Institute on Money in State Politics
Public Citizen
Small Business Majority
UFCW Western States Council
Voices For Progress
Oppose: None received
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