BILL ANALYSIS �
Bill No: AB
2720
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Lou Correa, Chair
2013-2014 Regular Session
Staff Analysis
AB 2720 Author: Ting
As Amended: April 2, 2014
Hearing Date: June 10, 2014
Consultant: Paul Donahue
SUBJECT
State agencies: Meetings; Record of actions taken
DESCRIPTION
Requires a state body to publicly report any action taken
at an open meeting, and the vote or abstention on that
action, of each member present for the action.
EXISTING LAW
1)The Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act requires all meetings
of a state body to be open and public, and that all
persons be permitted to attend and participate in any
meeting of a state body.
2)Defines a "state body" as each of the following:
a) Every state board, or commission, or similar
multimember body of the state that is created by
statute or required by law to conduct official
meetings and every commission created by executive
order.
b) A board, commission, committee, or similar
multimember body that exercises any authority of a
state body delegated to it by that state body.
c) An advisory board, advisory commission, advisory
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committee, advisory subcommittee, or similar
multimember advisory body of a state body, if created
by formal action of the state body or of any member of
the state body, and if the advisory body so created
consists of three or more persons.
d) A board, commission, committee, or similar
multimember body on which a member of a body that is a
state body pursuant to this section 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)Defines "action taken" as a collective decision by the
members of a state body, a collective commitment or
promise by the members of the state body to make a
positive or negative decision or an actual vote by the
members of a state body when sitting as a body or entity
upon a motion, proposal, resolution, order or similar
action.
BACKGROUND
Purpose : According to the author, current law requires
that the meetings of state boards and commissions be open
to the public, so that their deliberations and actions are
conducted in service of the public's interest. However,
there is no specific requirement that actions taken by
state boards and commissions during regular meetings are
publicly reported and reveal vote or abstention of each
member present for the action.
Consequently, there are multiple examples of state boards
and commissions that do not make this important information
readily accessible to the public. Final votes are often
reported, for example, as 20 Ayes and 10 Noes, making it
impossible to determine how individual members, who
represent different industry interests, voted on the action
taken. Some votes do not even report the final vote
numerically, only reporting whether the action passed or
failed. If a member of the public was not able to attend
the meeting, then it is impossible for that individual to
be wholly informed about the outcome of the action taken.
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The author states that AB 2720 would strengthen
California's commitment to open and transparent governance
by requiring all state boards and commissions to count,
identify, and publicly disclose all votes on actions taken
during meetings. This bill will ensure that the public has
complete information about the decisions made by state
bodies, so they are held accountable to the public
interest.
Bagley-Keene Act : When the Legislature enacted the
Bagley-Keene Act of 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.
Bagley-Keene explicitly mandates open meetings for
California State agencies, boards, and commissions. It
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, the California's Brown
Act of 1953 protects citizen's rights to open meetings at
the local and county government levels.
Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) : Although Bagley-Keene
ensures open meetings at the state level, the Brown Act
governs open meetings at the local level. Last year, the
Legislature unanimously approved and the Governor signed SB
751 (Yee), which guaranteed that local agencies publicly
report the vote of each member of their governing bodies on
actions taken. AB 2720 will make conforming changes to the
Bagley-Keene Act to ensure that all state boards and
commissions are similarly held accountable to the public
they serve.
Arguments in support : The California Taxpayers Association
(CalTax) states that all levels of government need to
continue to promote a transparent government. Empowering
people to engage in government allows them to become
stakeholders in the political process. Giving access, in
turn, allows people to see how their government is run, and
how policymakers' decisions will impact their lives.
The California Newspaper Publishers Association states that
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the need for AB 2720 arose when several state agencies
governed by the Bagley-Keene Act, failed to conduct either
a roll call vote or a specific tally and report the votes
of each member of the boards.
Consequently, constituents found it difficult, if not
impossible to determine who voted for or against a measure
when the agencies took action. AB 2720 would prevent
anonymous voting by large agencies and would improve the
ability of the public and others who monitor legislative
meetings of state agencies to be certain of how members
vote on an issue. The costs associated with the
implementation of AB 2720 would be minimal because the task
of identifying how a member votes is a simple one requiring
little, if any, effort by the agency to perform.
PRIOR/RELATED LEGISLATION
AB 2058 (Wilk), 2013-2014 Session. Would modify the
definition of "state body" to clarify that standing
committees, even if composed of less than three members,
are a "state body" for the purposes of the Bagley-Keene
Act. (Pending in Senate G.O. Committee)
SB 751 (Yee), Chapter 257, Statutes of 2013. Requires local
agencies to publicly report any action taken and the vote
or abstention of each member of a legislative body.
SUPPORT:
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Taxpayers Association
OPPOSE:
None on file
FISCAL COMMITTEE: No.
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