BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 527
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GOVERNOR'S VETO
AB 527 (Beth Gaines)
As Amended May 7, 2013
2/3 vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 8-0 JUDICIARY 10-0
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Grove, Bigelow, |Ayes:|Wieckowski, Wagner, |
| |Garcia, Muratsuchi, | |Alejo, Chau, Dickinson, |
| |Patterson, Stone, | |Garcia, Gorell, |
| |Williams | |Maienschein, Muratsuchi, |
| | | |Stone |
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APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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| |Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow, | | |
| |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian | | |
| |Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, | | |
|Ayes:|Hall, Ammiano, Linder, | | |
| |Pan, Quirk, Wagner, Weber | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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ASSEMBLY: 76-0 (May 30, 2013)
SENATE: 37-0 (September 3, 2013)
SUMMARY : Repeals the exemption from the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act (Bagley-Keene) enacted in 2012 for the Western Climate
Initiative (WCI, Inc.) and provides that a contract between the
state and WCI, Inc. shall be subject to audit by the State Auditor.
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EXISTING LAW :
1)SB 1018, Chapter 39, Statutes of 2012 (Resources Budget Trailer
Bill) imposes conditions on the non-governmental entity WCI, Inc.,
created to assist the Air Resources Board (ARB) in the
implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of
2006 (AB 32 (N��ez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006).
a) Finds and declares that the establishment of WCI, Inc.
should be done transparently and should be independently
reviewed by the Attorney General for consistency with all
applicable laws.
b) Establishes the California membership of the board of
directors of WCI, Inc. as follows:
i) One appointee or his or her designee who shall serve as
an ex officio nonvoting member shall be appointed by the
Senate Rules Committee.
ii) One appointee or his or her designee who shall serve as
an ex officio nonvoting member shall be appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly.
iii) The Chairperson of the ARB or her or his designee.
iv) The Secretary for Environmental Protection or his or her
designee.
c) Requires ARB to provide notice to the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee of any funds over $150,000 provided to WCI,
Inc. or its derivatives or subcontractors no later than 30 days
prior to transfer or expenditure of these funds.
d) Exempts WCI, Inc. and its ARB and California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) appointees from Bagley-Keene when
performing their duties.
2)Bagley-Keene generally requires that all meetings of a state body
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be open and public. Defines a "state body" to include a board,
commission, committee, or similar multimember body on which a
member of a body that is a state body serves in his or her
official capacity as a representative of that state body and that
is supported, in whole or in part, by funds provided by the state
body, whether the multimember body is organized and operated by
the state body or by a private corporation.
3)Provides pursuant to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) that
all records maintained by local and state governmental agencies
are open to public inspection unless specifically exempt. Defines
"public records" to include any writing containing information
relating to the conduct of the public's business prepared, owned,
used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of
physical form or characteristics.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
unknown additional special fund costs per audit for both WCI, Inc.
and ARB in the $40,000 to $200,000 range depending on the scope of
the audit (one audit per year is likely), potential redirection of
funds in the office of the State Auditor.
COMMENTS : According to the author, currently, actions taken by WCI,
Inc. are not subject to Open Meeting or Public Records Acts.
Requests for information from interest groups have been met with
delays and more often refusals. The board of WCI, Inc. includes
four California civil servants acting within their official job
capacity. Additionally, the majority of funding for WCI, Inc.
consists of tax dollars expended by ARB. WCI, Inc. is clearly
acting under the advisement of California officeholders and is
funded largely by state funds.
In November 2011, the Western Climate Initiative formed WCI, Inc., a
non-profit corporation formed to provide administrative and
technical services to support the implementation of state and
provincial greenhouse gas emissions trading programs. According to
their Web site, WCI, Inc. will develop a compliance tracking system
that tracks both allowances and offsets; administer allowance
auctions; and conduct market monitoring of allowance auctions and
offset certificate trading.
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The Board of Directors includes officials from the provinces of
Quebec and British Columbia, and public officials from the State of
California. The public officials from the State of California
include:
1)Matt Rodriguez, Secretary for Environmental Protection;
2)Mary Nichols, Chairman of the California Air Resources Board;
3)Kip Lipper, staff to California State Senate President Pro
Tempore;
4)Nancy Skinner, Member of the California State Assembly.
The Western Climate Initiative, not to be confused with WCI, Inc.,
is a collaboration of independent jurisdictions working together to
identify, evaluate, and implement emissions trading policies to
tackle climate change at a regional level. It began in February
2007 when the Governors of Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon,
and Washington signed an agreement directing their respective states
to develop a regional target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions,
participate in a multi-state registry to track and manage greenhouse
gas emissions in the region, and develop a market-based program to
reach the target. In the following years, the Governors of Montana
and Utah along with the Premiers of British Columbia, Manitoba,
Ontario, and Quebec joined the original five states in committing to
tackle climate change at a regional level.
In July 2010, all 11 jurisdictions collaborated in the development
of the design for the WCI Regional Program, which provides a roadmap
to inform WCI partner jurisdictions as they implement the
cap-and-trade program in their jurisdictions. All states except for
California, withdrew as partners from WCI in 2011. California,
along with British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba are
continuing to work together, as partners in WCI, to develop and
harmonize their emissions trading program policies.
When the Legislature enacted the Bagley-Keene in 1967, it
essentially said that when a body sits down to develop its
consensus, there needs to be a seat at the table reserved for the
public. In doing so, the Legislature has provided the public with
the ability to monitor and be part of the decision-making process.
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The act explicitly mandates open meetings for California State
agencies, boards, and commissions. The act facilitates transparency
of government activities and protects the rights of citizens to
participate in state government deliberations. Therefore, absent a
specific reason to keep the public out of meetings, the public
should be allowed to monitor and participate in the decision-making
process. Similarly, California's Ralph M. Brown Act of 1953
protects citizen's rights to open meetings at the local and county
government levels.
The WCI, Inc. was given an exemption from Bagley-Keene because of
the unique composition of the board and the vast distance between
its members, which would make it impractical for WCI, Inc. to follow
the very specific provisions of the Act. For instance, the
participating jurisdictions are geographically dispersed throughout
North America, and their budgets do not allow for frequent travel;
leading to WCI, Inc. meetings being held by telephone conference
calls. Though Bagley-Keene allows for teleconference meetings, it
requires each site from which a member of the body participates to
be accessible to the public.
GOVERNOR'S VETO MESSAGE :
"This bill requires various transparency and accountability actions
of the Western Climate Initiative, Incorporated (WCI, Inc.), a
multi-jurisdictional body providing services that support the
State's Cap-and-Trade program. This bill is unnecessary as WCI,
Inc. already meets the open meeting, public records and auditing
requirements of this bill.
"In order to ensure continued transparency, I have signed SB 726
that will provide ongoing accountability without the risk of
frivolous litigation presented by this measure."
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092 FN: 0002877
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