BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ELECTIONS
AND CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
BILL NO: AB 2062 HEARING DATE: 7/03/12
AUTHOR: DAVIS ANALYSIS BY: Frances Tibon
Estoista
AMENDED: 5/25/12
FISCAL: YES
SUBJECT
Political Reform Act of 1974: statements of economic
interests: electronic filing
DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires that candidates for, and current
holders of, specified elected or appointed state and local
offices and designated employees of state and local
agencies file Statements of Economic Interest (SEIs)
disclosing their financial interests, including
investments, real property interests, and income.
Existing law establishes a pilot project which permits Los
Angeles, Merced, Orange, Santa Clara, Stanislaus, and
Ventura counties and the City of Long Beach to permit the
electronic filing of an SEI in accordance with regulations
adopted by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC).
Existing law requires the pilot project to cover the
reporting periods of 2008 through 2011.
Existing law required a city or county participating in the
pilot project to submit a report to the FPPC not later than
July 1, 2011, and required the report to include a listing
and estimate of associated operational efficiencies;
related savings and associated costs from implementing and
operating the pilot program; a listing of the safety,
security, or privacy issues encountered and an explanation
of how those issues were addressed; available information
related to feedback from electronic filing participants;
and any other relevant information on the implementation of
the pilot program.
Existing law required the FPPC to transmit the city and
county reports received, as well as any comments on the
reports, to the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) no later
than August 15, 2011, and required the LAO to provide a
report to the Legislature evaluating the pilot project not
later than February 1, 2012.
Existing law allowed the FPPC, in conjunction with the LAO,
to develop additional criteria for the report to be
submitted to the FPPC by participating cities and counties.
Existing law provides that the pilot project began on
January 1, 2009, and will end on December 31, 2012.
This bill allows an agency to permit the electronic filing
of an SEI, in accordance with regulations adopted by the
FPPC. Specifically, this bill :
1. Authorizes an agency to permit the electronic filing of
an SEI, including amendments, in accordance with
regulations adopted by the FPPC.
2. Requires the FPPC, in consultation with interested
agencies, to use common database integration features in
developing database design requirements for all
electronic filings.
3. Requires an agency which intends to permit electronic
filing of SEIs to submit a proposal along with a $1,000
filing fee to the FPPC for approval and certification.
Prohibits an agency from recovering the costs of the
filing fee by charging a person to electronically file
an SEI.
4. Requires that the agency shall not charge a person to
electronically file an SEI.
5. Requires the FPPC to review an agency's proposal for
compliance with the system requirement regulations
adopted as required by this bill. Requires the FPPC to
approve and certify the agency's filing system as soon
as practicable after receiving the agency's submitted
proposal if the system complies with the regulations.
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6. Requires an agency's proposed electronic filing system
to meet certain requirements, as specified.
7. Permits the FPPC to adopt regulations to require an
agency to redact information on an SEI prior to posting
it on the Internet.
8. Permits the FPPC to conduct discretionary audits of an
agency's approved and certified electronic filing system
to evaluate its performance.
9. Requires the FPPC to accept an electronic copy of an
SEI that is forwarded to it by an agency that has
received an electronically filed statement from a filer
as provided for under this bill.
10. Permits a city or county, which developed an
electronic filing system pursuant to a specified pilot
program established in law, to continue to use that
system for purposes of this bill, including, but not
limited to, the time during which the FPPC is adopting
regulations as required by this bill. Requires the city
or county, after the FPPC's regulations take effect, to
submit a description of its electronic filing system for
approval and certification within a reasonable time as
determined by the FPPC. Prohibits a city or county from
continuing to use an electronic filing system originally
developed pursuant to law if the FPPC does not approve
and certify that electronic filing system.
BACKGROUND
Statements of Economic Interests . As part of the Political
Reform Act's (PRA) comprehensive scheme to prevent
conflicts of interest by state and local public officials,
existing law identifies certain elected and other
high-level state and local officials who must file SEIs.
Similarly, candidates for those positions must file SEIs.
Other state and local public officials and employees are
required to file SEIs if the position they hold is
designated in an agency's conflict of interest code. A
position is designated in an agency's conflict of interest
code when the position entails the making or participation
in the making of governmental decisions that may
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foreseeably have a material financial effect on the
decision maker's financial interests. While the exact
number of people that are required to file SEIs is unknown,
the FPPC has estimated that the number exceeds 200,000
officials and employees statewide.
The information that must be disclosed on an SEI, and the
location at which an SEI is filed, varies depending on the
position held by the individual who is required to file an
SEI. Although there are some exceptions, individuals who
are required to file an SEI typically must file that
document with the agency of which they are an elected
official or by which they are employed.
COMMENTS
1. According to the author : The Electronic Form 700
program has been an undeniable success story. According
to the Legislative Analyst's Office, the program has
resulted in decreases in staff hours, overtime costs,
and temporary employee costs. Furthermore, the
Electronic Form 700 program was found to be "more
efficient than the paper-based process" and garnered
overwhelmingly positive responses from participants in
the pilot program. This bill simply adopts the
recommendation of the LAO that all counties be permitted
to adopt the Electronic Form 700 Program.
2. LAO's Recommendations : As stated in the background,
the LAO submitted a report to the Legislature in January
of this year. According to the LAO report, the
participating government entities indicated that the
paper-based filing process was time-consuming and
required significant amounts of staff time to review the
SEIs, work with the filers to correct errors and
maintain the paper file systems. However, after
implementing the electronic filing system, participating
entities found that that electronic filing resulted in
operational efficiencies through reduced personnel due
to the significant reduction in the number of errors in
the filers' SEIs and other operational costs.
Additionally, it was reported to the LAO that none of
government entities reported any security issues with
the electronic filing systems and found that most of the
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public officials and employees who filed using the
electronic filing system considered it to be a useful
and an easy process.
And as a result of these findings, the LAO made the
following recommendations: (1) that due to success of
the electronic filing systems generated savings and
improved accuracy, the Legislature should allow
participating entities to continue electronic filing on
an ongoing basis; (2) that given the potential savings
and improved accuracy, the Legislature should consider
giving all governments the option to establish an
electronic filing system; and (3) due to the FPPC's role
in administering and overseeing the PRA, the Legislature
should authorize the FPPC to establish any guidelines
and specifications to be followed by the government
entities when developing and using the electronic filing
systems.
3. Previous Legislation : AB 2607 (Davis), Chapter 498,
Statutes of 2008, established a pilot project which
permits Los Angeles, Merced, Orange, and Stanislaus
Counties to permit the electronic filing of an SEI in
accordance with regulations adopted by the FPPC. AB
1149 (Davis), Chapter 139, Statutes of 2009, made two
minor changes to that pilot project.
AB 1921(Davis), Chapter 58, Statutes of 2010, allowed
Santa Clara and Ventura Counties and the City of Long
Beach to participate in the pilot project that was
created by AB 2607.
AB 182 (Davis), Chapter 96, Statutes of 2011, extended the
sunset of the pilot program that was created by AB 2607
to December 2012.
PRIOR ACTION
Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee: 7-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee: 12-0
Assembly Floor: 70-0
POSITIONS
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Sponsor: California Association of Clerks and Election
Officials (CACEO)
Support: California Common Cause
City of Long Beach
Fair Political Practices Commission
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Santa Clara Board of Supervisors
Oppose: None received
AB 2062 (DAVIS)
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