BILL NUMBER: AB 1779	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Galgiani

                        FEBRUARY 21, 2012

   An act to amend Section 8920 of the Government Code, relating to
the code of ethics.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1779, as introduced, Galgiani. Code of ethics.
   Existing law prohibits a Member of the Legislature, state elective
or appointive officer, or judge or justice, while serving as such,
from having any interest, engaging in any business or transaction or
professional activity, or incurring any obligation which is in
substantial conflict with the proper discharge of that person's
duties in the public interest. Existing law also prohibits a Member
of the Legislature from performing specified acts, including, among
others, accepting specified employment and disclosing confidential
information acquired in the course of and by reason of the Member's
official duties.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these
provisions.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 8920 of the Government Code is amended to read:

   8920.  (a)  No   A  Member of the
Legislature, state elective or appointive officer, or judge or
justice shall  not  , while serving as such, have any
interest, financial or otherwise, direct or indirect, or engage in
any business or transaction or professional activity, or incur any
obligation of any nature, which is in substantial conflict with the
proper discharge of his  or her  duties in the public
interest and of his  or her  responsibilities as prescribed
in the laws of this state.
   (b)  No   A  Member of the Legislature
shall  not  do any of the following:
   (1) Accept other employment which  he   the
Member  has reason to believe will either impair his  or her
 independence of judgment as to his  or her  official
duties or require him  or her  , or induce him  or her
 , to disclose confidential information acquired by  him
  the Member  in the course of and by reason of
 his   the Member's  official duties.
   (2) Willfully and knowingly disclose, for pecuniary gain, to any
other person, confidential information acquired by  him
  the Member  in the course of and by reason of
 his   the Member's  official duties or use
any such information for the purpose of pecuniary gain.
   (3) Accept or agree to accept, or be in partnership with any
person who accepts or agrees to accept, any employment, fee, or other
thing of monetary value, or portion thereof, in consideration of
 his  the Member's  appearing, agreeing to
appear, or taking any other action on behalf of another person before
any state board or agency.
   This subdivision shall not be construed to prohibit a 
member   Member  who is an attorney at law from
practicing in that capacity before any court or before the Workers'
Compensation Appeals Board and receiving compensation therefor. This
subdivision shall not act to prohibit a  member 
 Member  from acting as an advocate without compensation or
making inquiry for information on behalf of a constituent before a
state board or agency, or from engaging in activities on behalf of
another which require purely ministerial acts by the board or agency
and which in no way require the board or agency to exercise any
discretion, or from engaging in activities involving a board or
agency which are strictly on his or her own behalf. The prohibition
contained in this subdivision shall not apply to a partnership or
firm of which the Member of the Legislature is a member if the Member
of the Legislature does not share directly or indirectly in the fee,
less any expenses attributable to that fee, resulting from the
transaction. The prohibition contained in this subdivision as it read
immediately prior to January 1, 1983, shall not apply in connection
with any matter pending before any state board or agency on or before
January 2, 1967, if the affected Member of the Legislature was an
attorney of record or representative in the matter prior to January
2, 1967. The prohibition contained in this subdivision, as amended
and operative on January 1, 1983, shall not apply to any activity of
any Member in connection with a matter pending before any state board
or agency on January 1, 1983, which was not prohibited by this
section prior to that date, if the affected Member of the Legislature
was an attorney of record or representative in the matter prior to
January 1, 1983.
   (4) Receive or agree to receive, directly or indirectly, any
compensation, reward, or gift from any source except the State of
California for any service, advice, assistance  ,  or other
matter related to the legislative process, except fees for speeches
or published works on legislative subjects and except, in connection
therewith, reimbursement of expenses for actual expenditures for
travel and reasonable subsistence for which no payment or
reimbursement is made by the State of California.
   (5) Participate, by voting or any other action, on the floor of
either house, in committee, or elsewhere, in the passage or defeat of
legislation in which  he   the Member  has
a personal interest, except as follows: 
   (i) 
    (A)  If, on the vote for final passage by the house of
which he  or she  is a member, of the legislation in which
 he   the Member  has a personal interest,
he  or she  first files a statement (which shall be entered
verbatim on the journal) stating in substance that  he
  the Member  has a personal interest in the
legislation to be voted on and, notwithstanding that interest, he
 or she  is able to cast a fair and objective vote on that
legislation,  he   the Member  may cast his
 or her  vote without violating any provision of this
article. 
   (ii) 
    (B)  If the  member   Member 
believes that, because of his  or her  personal interest, he
 or she  should abstain from participating in the vote on
the legislation,  he   the Member  shall so
advise the presiding officer prior to the commencement of the vote
and shall be excused from voting on the legislation without any entry
on the journal of the fact of his  or her  personal
interest. In the event a rule of the house requiring that each
 member   Member  who is present vote aye
or nay is invoked, the presiding officer shall order the 
member   Member  excused from compliance and shall
order entered on the journal a simple statement that the
member   Member  was excused from voting on the
legislation pursuant to law.
   The provisions of this section do not apply to persons who are
members of the state civil service as defined in Article VII of the
California Constitution.