BILL NUMBER:  SB 439
  VETOED	DATE: 10/07/2011




To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am returning Senate Bill 439 without my signature.

This bill would prohibit board members and high-level employees of
the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and the
California Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) from receiving gifts
in excess of $50 in a year from anyone who contracts with CalPERS and
CalSTRS.  Current law requires that gifts in excess of $50 be
reported, but does not prohibit them outright.

As the author of the Political Reform Act, I feel strongly that gifts
made to public officials should be disclosed and subject to monetary
limits as they are under current law. In point of fact, the Fair
Political Practices Commission over the years has promulgated pages
and pages of detailed regulations covering such gifts. To now create
a special set of rules that will apply exclusively to CalPERS and
CalSTRS would add more complexity without sufficiently advancing the
goals of the Political Reform Act.

Sincerely,



Edmund G. Brown Jr.