BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1001
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1001 (Yee)
As Amended June 21, 2012
2/3 vote
SENATE VOTE :28-9
ELECTIONS 4-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Fong, Bonilla, Gatto, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Blumenfield, |
| |Swanson | |Bradford, Charles |
| | | |Calderon, Campos, Davis, |
| | | |Gatto, Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| | | |Mitchell, Solorio |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Logue |Nays:|Harkey, Donnelly, |
| | | |Nielsen, Norby, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Imposes fees on specified committees that are required
to file disclosure reports pursuant to the Political Reform Act
(PRA), increases fees on lobbying firms and lobbyist employers,
and requires the new fee revenue to be used for the online and
electronic disclosure of reports filed pursuant to the PRA.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires each committee that qualifies as a committee by
virtue of having received contributions totaling $1,000 or
more in a calendar year (known as a recipient committee) to
pay a fee of $50 per year to the Secretary of State (SOS), as
specified. Imposes a penalty of $150 on any committee that
fails to timely pay this fee.
2)Increases the fee required to be paid by each lobbying firm
and lobbyist employer from a maximum amount of $25 per year,
to a set amount of $50 per year, for each lobbyist required to
be listed on the registration statement of the firm or
employer.
3)Creates the Political Disclosure, Accountability,
Transparency, and Access Fund (PDATA Fund) in the State
Treasury. Requires the fees collected from recipient
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committees and one-half of the fees collected from lobbying
firms and lobbyist employers pursuant to this bill to be
deposited into the PDATA Fund. Requires the other half of the
fees collected from lobbying firms and lobbyist employers to
be deposited in the General Fund.
4)Provides that moneys deposited in the PDATA Fund are subject
to appropriation by the Legislature for the maintenance,
repair, and improvement of the online or electronic disclosure
program implemented by the SOS pursuant to existing law.
Permits the SOS to use moneys deposited in the PDATA Fund for
the purposes of implementing this bill.
5)Provides that any expenditure from the PDATA Fund for the
maintenance, repair, and improvement of the online or
electronic disclosure program implemented by the SOS is
subject to the project approval and oversight process
established by the California Technology Agency pursuant to
existing law.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Average annual revenue of $440,000 to the PDATA Fund:
$390,000 from the new fee on recipient committees and $50,000
from the increase in lobbyist registration fees.
2)The SOS will incur annual costs of about $80,000 for one
position associated with collection of the fee and monitoring
of revenues in the account. The bill earmarks revenues in the
new fund to maintenance, repair, and improvement of the
Cal-Access system. The SOS estimates annual maintenance costs
for the system at about $60,000. The remaining annual revenue
($300,000) may accrue into the fund for up to several years,
as improvements to the system, or a new system, could cost in
excess of a million dollars.
3)Any costs to the Fair Political Practices Commission for
enforcement will be minor and absorbable.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Existing law?requires the
�SOS]?to provide online and electronic filing processes for use
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by specified political committees, lobbyists, lobbying firms,
and lobbyist employers. Those processes must enable a user to
comply with all relevant disclosure requirements. The SOS must
also make all the data filed available on the Internet for
public viewing in an easily understood format. This online
reporting and disclosure system is commonly referred to as the
Cal-Access system. Cal-Access has had a slew of technical
issues recently that have resulted in a lack of access to this
information by the public. This information is essential to
ensuring transparency and accountability in affairs that
directly impact the people of this state. While the SOS has the
funding to maintain the existing hardware and software, because
of the nature of the antiquated and uncommon technology used,
finding parts and qualified people to do the maintenance on such
outdated equipment has been increasingly difficult. This bill
seeks to raise additional funds to be used on the maintenance,
repair, and improvement of the state's online reporting and
disclosure system website to ensure that this information is
continuously available as it was intended to be."
Created in 1999, Cal-Access is a database and filing system the
SOS has used to make much of the lobbying and campaign finance
information available online at no cost to users. In November
2011, the Cal-Access system went down, and the system was
unavailable for most of the month of December.
Please see the policy committee analysis for a full discussion
of this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Ethan Jones / E. & R. / (916) 319-2094
FN: 0004698