BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1666|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1666
Author: Swanson (D)
Amended: 6/9/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 4-0, 6/16/10
AYES: Aanestad, Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 76-0, 5/13/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Local government: whistleblower hotline
SOURCE : City of San Diego
DIGEST : This bill authorizes a city, county, or city and
county auditor or controller who is elected to office to
maintain a whistleblower hotline to receive calls from
persons who have information regarding fraud, waste, or
abuse by local government employees.
ANALYSIS : The California Whistleblower Protection Act
authorizes the State Auditor to receive complaints from
state employees and members of the public who want to
report improper governmental activity (SB 37, Maddy,
Chapter 12, Statutes of 1993). An "improper governmental
activity" is 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
CONTINUED
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complainant may not be revealed without the permission of
the complainant, except to an appropriate law enforcement
agency conducting a criminal investigation. If there is
reasonable cause to believe that a state employee or agency
has engaged in improper governmental activity, the State
Auditor must report the nature and details of the activity
to the head of the employing agency, or the appropriate
appointing authority. The State Auditor must keep
investigations confidential, but may issue reports of
substantiated investigations, keeping confidential the
identity of all individuals involved.
The Attorney General must maintain a statewide
whistleblower hotline to receive calls from the public with
information regarding possible violations of state or
federal statutes, rules, regulations, or violations of
fiduciary responsibility by a corporation or limited
liability company to the shareholders, investors, or
employees. The Attorney General must refer calls to the
appropriate government authority for further investigation.
During the initial review, the identities of the
whistleblower and the party being investigated are
confidential (SB 777, Escutia, Chapter 484, Statutes of
2003).
This bill authorizes a local whistleblower hotline to
receive calls from people who have information regarding
"fraud, waste, or abuse" by local government employees.
This bill defines "fraud, waste, or abuse" as any activity
by a local agency or employee that is undertaken in the
performance of the employee's official duties, including
activity outside the scope of his or her employment, that:
1.Violates any local, state, or federal law or regulation
relating to corruption, malfeasance, bribery, theft of
government property, fraudulent claims, fraud, coercion,
conversion, malicious prosecution, misuse of government
property, or willful omission to perform duty.
2.Is economically wasteful.
3.Involves gross misconduct.
The bill specifies that the term "improper government
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activity" has the same meaning as "fraud, waste, or abuse."
This bill specifies that the identity of the individuals
reporting the improper government activity, and the subject
employees, must be kept confidential except, that an
auditor or controller can provide a copy of a substantiated
audit report that includes the identities of the subject
employees and other pertinent information concerning the
investigation to the appropriate appointing authority for
disciplinary purposes. The substantiated audit report, and
subsequent investigatory materials or information, and the
disposition of any resulting disciplinary proceedings are
subject to the confidentiality provisions of applicable
local, state, and federal statutes, rules, and regulations.
This bill also makes additional technical and conforming
amendments.
Comments
In response to city auditors' concerns that state law
insufficiently protected whistleblowers who call local
hotlines, and individuals who are investigated as the
result of those calls, the Legislature imposed
confidentiality rules on local whistleblower hotline calls
and investigations (AB 2001, Swanson, Chapter 325, Statutes
of 2008). City officials want to clarify some of the
Swanson bill's provisions.
In implementing the local whistleblower hotline rules
enacted by the 2008 Swanson bill, San Diego city officials
identified three problems that this bill fixes. First,
current law broadly allows hotlines to collect information
on possible violations of state, federal, or local
statutes, rules, or regulations. By narrowing this
language to "fraud, waste, and abuse," this bill ensures
that the local whistleblower process focuses on those
activities and not on personnel complaints that are more
appropriately handled by human resources departments.
Second, the bill specifies that the confidentiality rules
do not prohibit an auditor or controller from providing a
substantiated audit report to an appropriate authority for
disciplinary purposes. Third, the bill clarifies that its
confidentiality provisions do not apply to complaints
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submitted to other city or county agencies or hotlines.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10)
City of San Diego (source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Bass, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block,
Blumenfield, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer,
Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines,
Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller,
Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Caballero, Hagman, Skinner
AGB:nl 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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