BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1436| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: SB 1436 Author: Bates (R) Amended: 4/6/16 Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 6-0, 4/13/16 AYES: Hertzberg, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach, Pavley NO VOTE RECORDED: Nguyen SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 SUBJECT: Local agency meetings: local agency executive compensation: oral report of final action recommendation SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires the legislative body of a local agency to orally report a recommendation for final action on the compensation of a local agency executive during an open meeting. ANALYSIS: Existing law: 1)Governs local governments' relations with their employees, and school districts and community college districts' employee relations, including collective bargaining and representation procedures. SB 1436 Page 2 2)Exempts, generally, executive employees-county administrators, city managers, special district managers, school superintendents, community college presidents-who are employed by, and report directly to, local elected governing boards from collective bargaining and representation procedures. 3)Requires public records to be open to inspection during office hours and gives every person a right to inspect public records, with specific exceptions. 4)Guarantees the public's right to attend and participate in local legislative bodies' meetings and establishes procedures to ensure public access to information maintained by local agencies and that the decisions made by public agencies are done in an open and transparent fashion to retain public control over those agencies. 5)Allows the legislative body of a local agency to meet, debate, and sometimes act in a closed session in several specified cases-including for the agency's designated representative to discuss the compensation-including salaries, salary schedules, or compensation paid in the form of fringe benefits-of its represented and unrepresented employees. 6)Requires local officials to: a) Place a closed meeting item on an agenda and cite their statutory authority to meet behind closed doors. b) Report on any action taken in closed session and provide the vote of every elected member present. c) Take final action on the compensation of unrepresented employees in an open session. SB 1436 Page 3 This bill: 1)Requires the legislative body of a local agency, prior to taking final action on the compensation of a local agency executive, to orally report a summary of the recommendation for final action during the open meeting in which the final action is to be taken. 2)States that the bill's provisions shall not affect the public's right under the Public Records Act to inspect or copy records created or received in the process of developing the recommendation. Background In 2011, the Legislature amended the Brown Act to address mismanagement on the part of officials in the City of Bell. AB 1344 (Feuer, Chapter 692, Statutes of 2011) prohibited local agencies from calling a special meeting (outside of regularly scheduled meetings of the agency's legislative body) regarding the compensation of a local agency executive. AB 1344 defined local agency executive to include any employee not governed by the collective bargaining and representation procedures established in the Meyers-Milias-Brown Act and the Education Code, and that meet any of the following criteria: The person is the chief executive officer, a deputy chief executive officer, or an assistant chief executive officer of the local agency. The person is the head of a department of a local agency. The local agency employs the person on a contract. Some legislators want to further increase the transparency of decisions that local agencies make about the compensation of their executives. Comments SB 1436 Page 4 Purpose of the bill. Transparency in local government decisionmaking, particularly when it comes to executive compensation, is a valuable safeguard against improper behavior and helps ensure that taxpayer and ratepayer dollars are effectively spent. Local agency executives, such as agency CEOs and city managers, are offered fringe benefits including health care coverage and pensions in amounts that can have a significant long-term impact on the budget and that deserve particular scrutiny by the public. SB 1436 encourages the active discussion of the compensation of local agency executives in an open session, rather than simply placing an item on a consent calendar where it will receive little attention. SB 1436 is a simple change that furthers the intent of the Brown Act, makes it easier for the public to identify improper levels of compensation, and builds trust in government. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes SUPPORT: (Verified4/25/16) California Newspaper Publishers Association Californians Aware OPPOSITION: (Verified4/25/16) None received Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119 4/27/16 15:57:32 **** END **** SB 1436 Page 5