BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2672|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2672
Author: Cook (R)
Amended: 6/2/10 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 3-1, 6/16/10
AYES: Kehoe, DeSaulnier, Price
NOES: Aanestad
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cox
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-0, 5/6/10 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public officers and employees: removal from
office
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires an appointed or ex officio
individual who has been debarred, suspended, disqualified,
or otherwise excluded from participating in federal
"covered transactions" pursuant to federal law to vacate
that office.
ANALYSIS : A public office becomes vacant when an
incumbent dies, resigns, is removed from office, ceases to
be an inhabitant of the state, or is convicted of a felony,
any offense involving a violation of his or her duties, or
other specified crimes. When an officer is removed,
declared insane, or convicted of a specified felony
offense, or when his/her election or appointment is
CONTINUED
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declared void, the body which conducted the proceedings
must notify the officer who can fill the vacancy.
To protect the public's interests, federal agencies can
exclude businesses or individuals from receiving federal
contracts, grants, loans, subsidies, donations, or other
forms of federal assistance. A federal agency may exclude
a business or individual for reasons such as a conviction
of, or indictment for, a criminal or civil offense, or a
serious failure to perform to the terms of a contract.
Federal agencies must report all excluded parties to the
Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), a Web-based system
maintained by the federal General Services Administration
(GSA). Before awarding funds, contracting officers and
other agency officials must check EPLS to ensure that a
prospective vendor is not an excluded party.
Some local agencies' board members are appointed by other
agencies or are filled automatically because an individual
holds another office. Some local officials worry that
these agencies could not remove a governing board member
who is listed in the federal EPLS, which could preclude the
agencies' receiving federal funds. They want the
Legislature to automatically vacate the seat of any ex
officio or appointed local agency board member listed in
the EPLS when an agency is involved in federal
transactions.
This bill provides that a public office becomes vacant when
an incumbent is listed in the EPLS and all of the following
apply:
1. The office is one that the incumbent holds ex officio,
by virtue of holding another office, or as an appointee.
2. The office is on the governing board of a local agency
that is, or may reasonably be expected to be, a
participant or principal in a covered transaction,
pursuant to federal law.
3. A federal agency head or designee has not granted the
incumbent an exception, in writing, permitting the
incumbent to participate in a particular covered
transaction in which the local agency is, or may
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reasonably be expected to be, a participant or
principal.
This bill defines "Excluded Parties List System" as the
list maintained and disseminated by the GSA containing
names of, and other information about, persons who are
debarred, suspended, disqualified, or otherwise excluded
from participating in a covered transaction, pursuant to
federal law.
The bill defines "local agency" as including a county,
city, whether general law or chartered, city and county,
town, school district, municipal corporation, district,
political subdivision, or any board, commission or agency
thereof, or other local public agency.
This bill defines "federal law" as including federal
regulations adopted pursuant to Section 2455 of Public Law
103-355 (108 Stat. 3327), Executive Order No. 11738,
Executive Order No. 12549, and Executive Order No. 12689.
This bill specifies that its provisions do not apply to an
elective office.
When an officer vacates an office pursuant to the
provisions of this bill, the bill requires the local agency
on which a vacancy occurs to notify the officer or body
empowered to fill the vacancy.
Comments
After two San Jacinto city council members who also served
as members of the Riverside County Transportation
Commission (RCTC) were indicted in November 2009, the
Federal Highway Administration (FHA) suspended them from
participating in federally-funded programs and projects and
posted their names to the EPLS. Because the RCTC is the
Metropolitan Planning Organization that selects
federally-funded highway transportation projects for the
region, the FHA notified the RCTC that the suspended
council members needed to be excluded from participating in
all federally funded programs and projects. However, the
RCTC had no authority to remove the two council members,
who were appointed by the City of San Jacinto. Although
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the City agreed to replace its RCTC appointees, the RCTC's
federally funded programs could have been jeopardized if
the council members had not been replaced. This bill
protects federal funding for local agencies by
automatically vacating ex officio or appointed offices when
an incumbent's exclusion from participating in federal
transactions jeopardizes a local agency's participation in
federal transactions.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield,
Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, 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, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi,
Hernandez, Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight,
Lieu, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, Norby, V. Manuel Perez,
Portantino, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva, Skinner,
Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson, Torlakson,
Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, John A. Perez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bass, Block, Gilmore, Mendoza, Vacancy
AGB:do 6/17/10 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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