BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair
567 (Villines)
Hearing Date: 8/27/2009 Amended: 7/16/2009
Consultant: Bob Franzoia Policy Vote: G O 9-0 Jud 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY: AB 567 would revise the California Whistleblower
Protection Act to add an individual appointed by the Legislature
to a state board or commission and who is not a member or
employee of the Legislature to the list of state employees
covered by the act and provide that state employee includes any
former employee who met specified criteria during his or her
employment. This bill would also change the definition of
improper activity to include any activity by an employee that is
undertaken in the performance of the employee's duties and would
change the definition of protected disclosure to specifically
include any good faith communication to the Bureau of State
Audits alleging an improper governmental activity and any
evidence delivered to the bureau in support of the allegation.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 Fund
Revision/expansion of Minor, absorbable costs ongoing General*
California Whistleblower
Protection Act
* State Audit Fund
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STAFF COMMENTS: SUSPENSE FILE. AS PROPOSED TO BE AMENDED.
The California Whistleblower Protection Act authorizes the State
Auditor to receive complaints from state employees and members
of the public who wish to report an improper governmental
activity. An "improper governmental activity" is defined as any
action that violates the law, is economically wasteful, or
involves gross misconduct, incompetency, or inefficiency. The
complaints received by the State Auditor are confidential, and
the identity of the complainant may not be revealed without the
permission of the complainant, except to an appropriate law
enforcement agency conducting a criminal investigation.
The bureau's Web site provides a process for persons to allege
an improper governmental activity. The Web site notes:
Upon receiving a complaint, the State Auditor may conduct an
investigation into the facts alleged in the complaint to
determine whether an improper governmental activity has
occurred. Before launching an investigation, the State
Auditor's staff will conduct a careful evaluation of the
complaint to determine whether it has enough potential merit to
warrant the expenditure of state resources to conduct an
investigation.
After the State Auditor receives a complaint, any investigation
resulting from the
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AB 567 (Villines)
complaint is confidential, so the State Auditor's staff cannot
provide any updates about what is being done to investigate the
complaint or what information has been uncovered. Information
about the investigation will not be released until a report is
issued by the State Auditor.
The bureau releases a biannual report entitled Investigations of
Improper Activities by State Employees. For a recent report,
key findings were:
Between July 1, 2008, and December 31, 2008, the State Auditor's
Office:
Received 2,163 calls or inquiries from the Whistleblower
Hotline, mail, Web site, or individuals who visited the office.
Opened 338 new cases after careful review and continued to
analyze or investigate 117 other cases.
Substantiated or jointly substantiated with other state
agencies, nine investigations and reported that state employees
and departments engaged in improper activities.
Currently, only state employees, internal auditors of state
agencies, anyone else, including contractors who do business
with the state, job applicants, and persons obtaining services
from the state, may file complaints with the State Auditor.
The proposed amendments would delete the Clearinghouse for
Governmental Innovation and Improvement Program and the
requirement that the bureau to take reasonable steps to create
and maintain public awareness of the program as resources become
available.