BILL ANALYSIS
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS, REAPPORTIONMENT AND
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Loni Hancock, Chair
BILL NO: AB 1274 HEARING DATE:
7/7/09
AUTHOR: HUBER ANALYSIS BY:
Darren Chesin
AMENDED: 6/30/09
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Lobbyists
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires that the Secretary of State (SOS)
maintain on the Internet an updated registry of lobbyists,
lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers. These entities
must also file periodic statements disclosing, among other
things, their lobbying interests.
This bill would require lobbyists who are required to file
these periodic reports to include the specific legislative
bill numbers they lobbied on during the reporting period.
This bill would also require the SOS, within 90 days of the
end of each calendar quarter, to display on the Internet a
list of the lobbying interests containing a specific
legislative bill number reference as reported and a list of
those lobbyist employers who reported those interests in
the prior calendar quarter.
BACKGROUND
Compounding Interest ? While existing law requires lobbying
entities to report their lobbying "interests," the Fair
Political Practices Commission (FPPC) has never defined
lobbying "interests." Therefore, some lobbying reports
include specific legislative bill numbers while others list
subject or issue areas instead.
COMMENTS
1.According to the author, AB 1274 addresses the need to
readily identify who is lobbying on a specific bill by
requiring the Secretary of State to display online a
breakdown of all lobbying interests seeking to influence
each proposed law.
During the 2007-2008 Legislative Session, special interests
spent $558 million to influence the legislative process.
While existing law requires disclosure, the way the state
provides this information makes it difficult for the
public to identify what legislation lobbyists are trying
to influence. Currently, lobbying records listed online
are not linked to a bill number. The only way to
determine which lobbyists are working for or against
specific legislation is to spend hours viewing or
photocopying hundreds of lobbying disclosure reports,
search each and every report and build a list
cross-referenced with over 3,000-4,000 bills introduced
in the Legislature every two years.
AB 1274 would require the SOS to create a bill-by-bill list
that details online all lobbying interests that tried to
influence the decisions made on a specific piece of
legislation. Doing so will allow the public to see who
actively lobbied on a particular matter. In one click,
the public should be able to see the complete list of
those who fought for or against a specific bill as it
moved through the legislative process.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee:7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 16-0
Assembly Floor: 77-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor: Author
Support: California Common Cause
Oppose: None received
AB 1274 (HUBER) Page
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