BILL ANALYSIS
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 1921
Author: Davis (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 27
SENATE ELEC., REAP. & CONST. AMEND. COMM. : 5-0, 6/15/10
AYES: Hancock, Denham, DeSaulnier, Liu, Strickland
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 69-1, 5/10/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Political Reform Act of 1974: electronic filing
SOURCE : California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials
City of Long Beach
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Ventura County Board of Supervisors
DIGEST : This bill allows Santa Clara and Ventura
Counties and the City of Long Beach to participate in an
ongoing pilot project that allows certain local
jurisdictions to permit statements of economic interest to
be filed electronically.
ANALYSIS : Existing law requires that candidates for and
current holders of specified elected or appointed state and
local offices and designated employees of state and local
agencies file statements of economic interest (SEIs)
disclosing their financial interests, including
investments, real property interests, and income.
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Existing law establishes a pilot project which permits Los
Angeles, Merced, Orange, and Stanislaus Counties to allow
the electronic filing of an SEI in accordance with
regulations adopted by the Fair Political Practices
Commission (FPPC). The pilot project covers the reporting
periods of 2008 through 2010 and requires each
participating county to submit a specified report to the
FPPC not later than July 1, 2011. The FPPC must then
transmit these reports, as well as any comments on the
reports, to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) no later
than August 15, 2011, and requires the LAO to provide a
report to the Legislature evaluating the pilot project not
later than February 1, 2012.
This bill permits Santa Clara and Ventura Counties and the
City of Long Beach to participate in this ongoing pilot
project.
Background
Statements of Economic Interests . As part of the Political
Reform Act's comprehensive scheme to prevent conflicts of
interest by state and local public officials, existing law
identifies certain elected and other high-level state and
local officials who must file SEIs. Similarly, candidates
for those positions must also file SEIs. Other state and
local public officials and employees are required to file
SEIs if the position they hold is designated in an agency's
conflict of interest code. A position is designated in an
agency's conflict of interest code when the position
entails the making or participation in the making of
governmental decisions that may foreseeably have a material
financial effect on the decision maker's financial
interests. While the exact number of people that are
required to file SEIs is unknown, the FPPC previously has
estimated that the number exceeds 130,000 officials and
employees statewide. The information that must be
disclosed on a SEI, and the location at which a SEI is
filed, varies depending on the position held by the
individual who is required to file an SEI. Although there
are some exceptions, individuals who are required to file a
SEI typically must file that document with the agency of
which they are an elected official or by which they are
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employed.
Comments
AB 2607 (Davis), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2008, established
a pilot project which permits Los Angeles, Merced, Orange,
and Stanislaus Counties to allow the electronic filing of
an SEI in accordance with regulations adopted by the FPPC.
AB 1149 (Davis), Chapter 139, Statutes of 2009, made two
minor changes to that pilot project. The pilot project
began in 2009 for SEIs filed for the 2008 calendar year,
and is scheduled to conclude with SEIs filed for the 2010
calendar year. The Legislative Analyst is required to
provide a report to the Legislature by February 1, 2012
evaluating the pilot program.
This bill seeks to add two additional counties (Santa Clara
and Ventura) and a city (Long Beach) to the ongoing pilot
project that was created by AB 2607. It is fairly uncommon
for the participants in a pilot project to be changed after
the pilot project has already begun, in part because such a
modification may make it difficult to evaluate the impacts
of the pilot program.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/16/10)
California Association of Clerks and Election Officials
(co-source)
City of Long Beach (co-source)
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors (co-source)
Ventura County Board of Supervisors (co-source)
City Clerks Association of California
City of Thousand Oaks
Orange County Board of Supervisors
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office,
AB 2607 (Davis), Chapter 498, Statutes of 2008, provided
Los Angeles, Orange, Merced and Stanislaus Counties with
the ability to participate in a pilot program to provide
constituents with the option of filing their Form 700 SEIs
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using a secure electronic template. The program provides a
safe, cost-effective and workload-reducing option for the
filer to utilize to fulfill their annual filing obligation.
This bill adds Santa Clara and Ventura Counties, as well
as the City of Long Beach, to the existing pilot project.
These entities are prepared to administer the electronic
filing option immediately, and require legislative action
to provide them the avenue needed to officially launch
their programs. The language in this bill will provide the
referenced entities with an additional year of financial
and workload savings.
According to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, a
co-sponsor of this bill, "Our County is well suited to
begin immediate participation in the pilot program. In
October 2009, our Board authorized the purchase of an
e-filing software program for Form 700 submissions to
simplify the current submission process for both filers and
the Clerk of the Board. The software offers an electronic
submission feature, which would be easy to implement if AB
1921 is enacted. Our Clerk of the Board is the local
filing officer for over 4,000 filers in Santa Clara County.
Most of these filers would qualify for electronic filing
under the pilot program. This includes various county
employees and members of local school boards and special
districts.
As you can imagine, the large number of filers in our
county creates a tremendous amount of work for the Clerk's
Office. The ability to accept electronic submissions of
statements of economic interest forms will result in staff
efficiencies, reduce the risk of errors, and provide some
cost savings."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Arambula, Bass, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, De Leon,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman,
Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal,
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Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, V.
Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torres, Torrico, Tran,
Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NOES: Anderson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Davis, De La Torre, DeVore, Harkey,
Mendoza, Norby, Saldana, Solorio, Torlakson, Vacancy
DLW:DO 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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