BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 1255
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 4, 2011

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

               AB 1255 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Amended:  April 26, 2011 

          Policy Committee:                              JEDE Vote:5-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the Secretary of State to post on the agency 
          website, a link to the Internet pages of either the California 
          Public Employees' Retirement System and/or the State Teachers' 
          Retirement System where information on registries of potential 
          qualified candidates for corporate boards, if available, can be 
          found.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor absorbable costs to be incurred by the Secretary of State.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose.   According to the author, the purpose of AB 1255 is 
            to provide corporations and investors access to a larger pool 
            of qualified individuals from which to select new corporation 
            board members.  With unprecedented numbers of corporate board 
            members retiring in the next decade, it is imperative that 
            qualified individuals be efficiently identified to fill those 
            seats and that those individuals reflect the changing 
            demographics of the state.  Given the diversity of the 
            California population and the broad array of skill sets that 
            modern day corporate boards need to possess, it is not 
            reasonable to assume that boards are aware of every possible 
            qualified individual or that they are aware of reliable 
            sources for such information. 

           2)The Diverse Director DataSource.   The California Public 
            Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California 
            State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) are working with 
            an advisory panel of leading corporate governance experts to 








                                                                  AB 1255
                                                                  Page  2

            develop a new digital resource devoted to finding untapped 
            diverse talent to serve on corporate boards.  This resource is 
            called, the Diverse Director DataSource, and will offer 
            shareowners, companies and other organizations a facility from 
            which to recruit individuals whose experience, skills and 
            knowledge qualify them to be a candidate for a director's 
            seat.



           Analysis Prepared by  :    Roger Dunstan / APPR. / (916) 319-2081