BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1431
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 14, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                    AB 1431 (Gonzalez) - As Amended:  May 5, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              ElectionsVote:5-1
                        Judiciary                             8-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill amends the Political Reform Act (PRA) to prohibit an  
          administrator of a school or community college district from  
          knowingly soliciting, accepting, or receiving a campaign  
          contribution for a governing board member or candidate for the  
          board of that school or community college district. The  
          prohibition would not extend to an administrator regarding  
          contributions for his or her own campaign.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Any costs to the Fair Political Practices Commission should be  
          minor and absorbable, and could be partially offset by penalty  
          revenues.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Purpose  . The author is concerned about administrators  
            soliciting funds from third party vendors or other businesses  
            that may have reason to contract with the school at some point  
            in the future.  Administrators, the author notes, manage  
            contracts and, conceivably, could make recommendations to  
            their governing board that would result in granting contracts  
            to campaign donors.  The author cites, for example, public  
            corruption cases involving the Sweetwater Unified School  
            District, where prosecutors alleged that a "common thread" in  
            these cases was an administrator fundraising on behalf of  
            board members. This measure, therefore, prohibits a school or  
            community college district administrator from knowingly  
            soliciting, accepting, or receiving a political contribution  
            from any person for a candidate for any elected office of the  








                                                                  AB 1431
                                                                  Page  2

            district that would employ the administrator, except as  
            specified.

           2)Opposition  . The Association of California School  
            Administrators (ACSA) opposes this bill unless amended.  ACSA  
            contends that while the Legislature can limit political  
            donations, it cannot ban the arranging of campaign  
            contributions.  ACSA also expresses concern that the bill only  
            applies to "administrators" and not to other "employees."    
            According to ACSA, if "the argument is that there is undue  
            influence over their job security the same can be argued for  
            both certificated and classified employees of a district."    
            In addition, ACSA believes the limitation to administrators  
            ignores "the efforts made by teachers and classified employee  
            unions to influence elections of school board members who also  
            make the final decisions on employment contracts, benefits,  
            dismissals, layoffs, etc."

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081