BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2720|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 2720
Author: Ting (D)
Amended: 4/2/14 in Assembly
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE : 8-0, 6/10/14
AYES: Correa, Cannella, De Le�n, Galgiani, Hernandez, Padilla,
Torres, Vidak
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Lieu, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) - See last page for
vote
SUBJECT : State agencies: meetings: record of action taken
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill 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.
ANALYSIS :
Existing law:
1.Requires, under the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, 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.
CONTINUED
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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
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/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.
1.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.
This bill 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.
Background
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
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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, California's Brown Act of 1953 protects
citizen's rights to open meetings at the local and county
government levels.
Ralph M. 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, Chapter 257, Statutes of
2013) guaranteeing 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.
Comments
According to the author's office, existing 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.
The author's office states that this bill strengthens
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/11/14)
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Taxpayers Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : The California Taxpayers Association
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 the
need for this bill 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. This bill prevents anonymous voting
by large agencies and improves 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 this bill will 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/15/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian
Calderon, Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley,
Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,
Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon,
Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hern�ndez,
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Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal,
Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian,
Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mansoor, Vacancy
MW:e 6/11/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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