BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1349
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB
1349 (Hertzberg)
As Amended August 15, 2016
2/3 vote
SENATE VOTE: 38-0
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Elections |7-0 |Weber, Harper, Travis | |
| | |Allen, Gordon, Low, | |
| | |Mullin, Nazarian | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, Daly, Eggman, | |
| | |Gallagher, Eduardo | |
| | |Garcia, Holden, | |
| | |Jones, Obernolte, | |
| | |Quirk, Santiago, | |
| | |Wagner, Weber, Wood, | |
| | |McCarty | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
SB 1349
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SUMMARY: 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 and disclosure
system for statements and reports that provides public
disclosure of campaign finance and lobbying information in a
user-friendly, easily understandable format, as specified.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to develop an
online filing and disclosure system for use by persons and
entities that are required to file statements and reports with
the SOS in accordance with Political Reform Act (PRA).
2)Requires the system to enable a user to comply with all the
disclosure requirements of the PRA and a data-driven means or
method that allows filers to submit required filings free of
charge in a manner that facilitates public searches of the
data, as specified.
3)Requires the SOS to do all of the following with respect to
developing the online filing and disclosure system and record
format pursuant to this bill:
a) Consult with the Assembly Committee on Elections and
Redistricting, the Senate Committee on Elections and
Constitutional Amendments, the FPPC, users, filers, and
other stakeholders, as appropriate, about functions of the
online filing and disclosure system;
b) Hold at least one public hearing, in consultation with
the FPPC, no later than July 31, 2017, to receive input
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about developing the online filing and disclosure system
and record format; and,
c) Submit a report, no later than December 31, 2017, to the
Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting and the
Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional
Amendments, as specified.
4)Requires the SOS to make the online filing and disclosure
system available for use no later than February 1, 2019.
Permits the SOS to extend this date to a date no later than
December 31, 2019, as specified.
5)Exempts the SOS from various information technology
requirements, and from project and funding approvals, for the
purposes of implementing this bill as expeditiously as
possible.
6)Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, before making
the system available for public use, to test the system to
ensure its functionality and then certify that the system
meets all the requirements of this bill.
7)Provides that after the system developed pursuant to this bill
is certified, the previous system developed pursuant to
existing law shall no longer accept reports and filings,
unless otherwise directed by the SOS and the FPPC. Requires
the previous system to continue to allow public access to past
disclosures unless the SOS migrates that data into the new
system.
8)Requires the SOS to submit to the chairs of the Joint
Legislative Budget Committee and the fiscal committees of the
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Legislature a quarterly report on the progress of the
Cal-Access Project on or before December 31, 2017, and on or
before every April 15, July 15, October 15, and January 15
thereafter, as specified.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)The SOS will incur one-time costs of $11.6 million to develop,
test, and implement the new system and ongoing costs of $2.8
million related to operate and maintain the system, which will
be offset to some extent by savings from discontinued use of
the existing system and of paper filings. [General Fund and
Political Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency, and Access
Fund (PDATA Fund)]
2)The FPPC will incur ongoing General Fund costs of $130,000 to
interface with the new system, and likely minor costs to
update forms, and modify regulations to reflect the new
system.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "In the 2014 election cycle,
major donor and independent expenditure committees spent over
$80 million in California, an amount that increases each cycle.
The [PRA] requires campaign contributors who reach specified
contribution thresholds to file regular reports with the [SOS]
of their contributions and expenditures. In addition to
candidates for office, 'major donors' and 'independent
expenditure committees' are required to file reports.
Converting filed reports into a user-friendly database has
proved to be an ongoing challenge. The [SOS's] current campaign
finance database, Cal-Access, does not allow the public to
easily access records for contributions made by major donors and
independent expenditure committees. For example, one committee
may use variations in the spelling of its name each year, making
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it almost impossible to track contributions over time.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla has called Cal-Access '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."
In 2012, the Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 1001
(Yee), Chapter 506, Statutes of 2012, which imposed a $50 annual
fee on specified 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. Additionally, SB 1001 required the revenue generated
to be deposited into a newly-created PDATA Fund in the State
Treasury and be used to update or replace Cal-Access. It is
estimated that these fees will result in approximately $490,000
of new revenue yearly for the PDATA Fund.
The Governor's May revision to the 2016-2017 budget proposed
$757,000 for the procurement of contracted services for the
improvement of Cal-Access. Additionally, the Assembly proposed
an augmentation to the Governor's Cal-Access proposal with an
additional $1 million. The budget conference committee adopted
the Assembly's proposal to provide additional funding for the
replacement of the Cal-Access system.
California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974
that created the FPPC and codified significant restrictions and
prohibitions on candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That
initiative is commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA
that are not submitted to the voters, such as those contained in
this bill, must further the purposes of the initiative and
require a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
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Analysis Prepared by:
Nichole Becker / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094 FN:
0004028