BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 41
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 41 (Hill)
As Amended August 16, 2012
2/3 vote. Urgency
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|ASSEMBLY: |60-0 |(April 14, |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 30, |
| | |2011) | | |2012) |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Original Committee Reference: E. & R.
SUMMARY : Requires a member of the High-Speed Rail Authority
(HSRA) who has a financial interest in a governmental decision
before the HSRA to publicly identify the financial interest that
gives rise to the conflict of interest, to recuse himself or
herself from discussing or voting on the matter, and to leave
the room until after the discussion, vote, and any other
disposition of the matter is concluded. Expands the amount of
information that a member of the HSRA must disclose on a
statement of economic interests (SEI). Specifically, this bill
adds members of the HSRA to a statutorily-designated list of
high-ranking public officials who are subject to the most
expansive disclosure requirements under the Political Reform Act
(PRA).
The Senate amendments :
1)Require each individual who is selected by the HSRA to serve
in a peer review capacity to the HSRA to be deemed to be a
designated employee of the HSRA, thereby requiring such
employees to file SEIs. Require that SEIs filed by these
employees be filed with the HSRA.
2)Add double-jointing language to avoid chaptering problems with
AB 2609 (Hueso).
3)Add an urgency clause, allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version approved by the Senate, except that it did not
contain the provisions requiring certain individuals serving in
a peer review capacity to be considered designated employees of
AB 41
Page 2
the HSRA, nor did it contain double-jointing language or an
urgency clause.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : Existing law designates certain high-ranking public
officials who are subject to the most expansive disclosure
requirements under the PRA. This bill proposes to add members
of the HSRA to that statutorily-established list. This change
would have two primary effects on the members of the HSRA.
First, members of the HSRA board would be subject to somewhat
broader disclosure when they file their SEIs; currently board
members must disclose only those interests that fall within one
of the disclosure categories listed in the HSRA's Conflict of
Interest Code, but under this bill, board members would be
required to disclose all investments, interests in real
property, and income, with certain limited exceptions.
Second, adding members of the HSRA board to the
statutorily-established list of high-ranking public officials
would mean that if a member of the board had a conflict of
interest in a matter before the board, that member would have to
publicly identify the financial interest and leave the room
until after the discussion of that matter had finished.
California voters passed an initiative, Proposition 9, in 1974
that created the Fair Political Practices Commission and
codified significant restrictions and prohibitions on
candidates, officeholders and lobbyists. That initiative is
commonly known as the PRA. Amendments to the PRA that are not
submitted to the voters, such as those contained in this bill,
must further the purposes of the initiative and require a
two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature.
This bill had been substantially amended in the Senate to add
new provisions requiring HSRA board members to report ex parte
communications in certain circumstances. However, the
provisions governing ex parte communications subsequently were
removed from the bill. As a result, there are two substantive
differences between the current version of this bill and the
version approved by the Assembly last year. First, this bill
now requires individuals who are selected by the HSRA to serve
in a peer review capacity to file SEIs. Second, this bill now
AB 41
Page 3
contains an urgency clause.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0005099