BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1363
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1363 (Alejo) - As Amended: March 25, 2011
Policy Committee: InsuranceVote:7 -
4
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill subjects the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating
Bureau (WCIRB) to the open meetings and public records laws that
govern public entities in California. Specifically, this bill:
1)Specifies that the Insurance Commissioner (IC) shall not
designate an entity as his or her statistical agent, unless,
for purposes of its role as statistical agent, the entity:
a) Agrees to be subject to the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act, and
b) Agrees to be subject to the California Public Records
Act (CPRA).
2)Specifies that any dispute between WCIRB and any party
concerning the application of these laws shall be resolved in
a court of competent jurisdiction, and that the IC shall not
have any duty to defend WCIRB in any proceeding.
3)Provides that WCIRB shall not disclose any record that is made
confidential by any provision of the Insurance Code.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Should WCIRB refuse to comply with Bagley-Keene and CPRA, it
would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to create a new
organization that could serve as the state's statistical agent
for workers' compensation.
AB 1363
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2)WCIRB, a private, nonprofit organization, serves as
California's required statistical agent for workers'
compensation and has been doing so since 1915. Their annual
operating budget is over $30 million per year. While the
organization provides services other than operating as the
state's statistical agent, much of the work and budget is
dedicated to that purpose. There are no other organizations
that could fulfill this statutorily required role.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . According to the author, the WCIRB is performing
public functions on behalf of the IC, and these public
functions should not be shielded from the open meetings and
public records laws that would apply if the IC performed these
function on his or her own. In the insurance arena, there are
a number of quasi-public or private entities that perform
public functions. There has been a trend in recent years to
ensure that these entities, to the extent that they are
performing public functions, operate in the same transparent
manner as if these functions were performed by a public
agency.
2)Disconcerting Precedent . It is unclear whether this bill's
requirements would withstand legal scrutiny in state and
federal courts because the bill requires a private, non-profit
organization to comply with laws designed solely for
government entities. If this bill is enacted, it may open the
possibility for numerous private, nonprofit agencies to be
subject to the California Public Records Act and the
Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act.
3)Bagley-Keene Open Meetings Act . The Bagley-Keene Open Meetings
Act provides the state's rules and regulations for open and
public meetings. The Bagley-Keene Act sets up the rules for
all state agencies, boards, and commissions on state meetings,
ensures they are open to the public, and establishes the
boundaries within which those entities operate.
4)California Public Records Act (CPRA) . The CPRA, fashioned
after the federal Freedom of Information Act, defines a
"public record" as any recording in any form of communication
or representation, relating to the conduct of the public's
business, that is prepared, owned, used or retained by any
governmental agency in the state, regardless of its form or
AB 1363
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physical characteristics.
Any person, company, corporation, firm, partnership or
association has the right to inspect public records during
normal business hours or to receive a copy of a record by
paying the cost of duplication, except when the record is
exempted from disclosure by state or federal law. Government
representatives violate the law when they ask who a person is,
require identification or inquire why the information is
requested. Governmental agencies are not allowed to delay the
inspection of public records and, in all circumstances, must
respond to a CPRA request within 10 calendar days.
Under the CPRA, state and local agencies are required to make
public records available upon request, including reports and
records concerning crimes, which will generally include the
names and addresses of victims of those crimes. Currently, the
CPRA exempts from disclosure the names and addresses of
victims of specified crimes, at the victim's
5)Related Legislation . In 2010, AB 2220 (Silva) would have added
the private, nonprofit regional centers that contract with the
Department of Developmental Services to requirements of
disclosure related to the California Public Records Act. That
bill was held on this committee's suspense file.
Analysis Prepared by : Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)
319-2081