BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 2368
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 5, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

               AB 2368 (Blakeslee) - As Introduced:  February 19, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:4-3

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              Yes

           SUMMARY  


          This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to prohibit a  
          lobbyist  employer  from making gifts of $10 or more in a calendar  
          month to a member of the Legislature.

           
          FISCAL EFFECT  


          Minor absorbable costs to the Fair Political Practices  
          Commission for enforcement, potentially offset by penalty  
          revenue.


           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . The PRA prohibits a lobbyist or lobbying firm from  
            making gifts aggregating more than $10 in a calendar month to  
            a state candidate, elected state officer, or legislative  
            official, or to act as an agent or intermediary in the making  
            of any gift, or to arrange for the making of any gift by any  
            other person. The Act also prohibits elected state government  
            officials and candidates for elective state office from  
            accepting gifts from  any  single source in a calendar year with  
            a total value of more than $420, with certain limited  
            exceptions. This bill extends the more stringent $10-per-month  
            gift limit to lobbyist employers, with respect to gifts to  
            members of the Legislature.

            The author believes that the current system, by allowing  
            certain interests to provide more extravagant gifts to  








                                                                  AB 2368
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            Legislators and staff, creates an unhealthy impression that  
            lobbyist employers "can finance access to legislators and key  
            staff that is not available to other members of the public."

           2)Significantly More Parties Subject to $10 Gift Limit  . While  
            there are about 1,150 registered lobbyists in the state, and  
            about 375 lobbying firms, there are more than 2,800 lobbyist  
            employers. As a result, this bill would roughly triple the  
            number of entities subject to a gift limit that is stricter  
            than the general $420 gift limit when gifts are made to  
            members of the Legislature.
           
          3)Prior Legislation  .  This bill is identical to the May 6,  
            2009, version of AB 1412 (Torrico), which was approved  
            unanimously by this committee, but died on the Assembly  
            inactive file.

            AB 2795 (Blakeslee) of 2008, which prohibited lobbyist  
            employers from making gifts of more than $10 per month to  
            state candidates, elected state officers, legislative  
            officials, agency officials and staff thereof, with several  
            specified exceptions which created FPPC costs, was held on  
            this committee's Suspense file. 

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081