TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation
DATE: April 16, 1997
RE: Online political disclosure bill passes Senate committeeHi Folks:
Today was another major day in the California State Capitol for online political disclosure. The Senate Elections Committee met this morning and took up two bills that would mandate electronic filing of, and Internet access to political disclosure records: SB 49/Karnette, and SB 7/Kopp. SB 49 passed out of the committee on a 3-0 vote, and SB 7 failed passage on a 2-1 vote. This edition of CVF-NEWS will provide a recap of today's events, as well as a preview of what's ahead.
RECAP OF TODAY'S SENATE ELECTIONS HEARING
SB 7/Kopp was taken up first, with the bill's sponsor, Secretary of State Bill Jones in attendance to speak in favor of the measure.
Senator Kopp began the discussion by first providing some history of last year's legislation. Secretary of Jones provided a history of his office's involvement with electronic filing, and discussed his plans to put forward a voluntary electronic filing demonstration project for 1998, as well as provide online access to independent expenditure and late contribution data in 1998 (similar to what the California Voter Foundation did last Fall with our Late Contribution Watch project). Jones said he would support any and all bills as long as the Secretary of State's office can meet the deadlines provided for in the legislation, given the lengthy state procurement process. Jones noted the similarities between SB 7 and SB 49, and thanked Chairwoman Karnette for her leadership on this issue.
A parade of witnesses lined up to give testimony at the hearing, which was televised live on the California Channel. Unfortunately, only two of the five committee members were present when the witnesses testified, but the discussion was lively and meaningful nonetheless. Committee members present for the electronic filing discussion included Chairwoman Betty Karnette (D-Long Beach) and Senator Herschel Rosenthal (D-North Hollywood), with committee members Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), Bill Craven (R-Oceanside) and John Lewis (R-Orange) absent.
The list of witnesses on SB 7 and SB 49 includes:
Elisa Odabashian, Consumers Union
Jim Knox, California Common Cause
David Jefferson, Digital Equipment Corporation
Mary Griffin, representing Statecraft Software
Bob Stern, Center for Governmental Studies
Don Trujillo, Mexican-American Legal Defense & Education Fund
Jim Ewert, California Newspaper Publishers Association
Andy Igrejas, CalPIRG
Tony Miller, Californians for Political Reform
Orvil Jones, private citizen
Don Trask, private citizen
Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation
Dick Ratcliffe, Institute for Governmental Advocates
Joe McDaniel, AARP
Trudy Schafer, League of Women Voters of California
Bill Hogan, California Teachers AssociationWhile many of the witnesses had specific details of the bills that they wanted to see addressed, everyone was very supportive of online disclosure. Jim Knox of Common Cause said his group considers online disclosure to be the most important political reform measure the Legislature is taking up this year. Mary Griffin, representing Statecraft, said that the San Diego-based software company, which had been in opposition to electronic filing bills last year, was in support of SB 7. Bob Stern told the committee that three jurisdictions - Kentucky, Hawaii and San Francisco - already have mandatory electronic filing, that several others have implemented voluntary systems, and that most states are working in the direction of electronic filing and online disclosure.
Don Trujillo of MALDEF spoke of how California led the way in providing Internet access to legislative information, and hoped we would continue to do so with campaign finance data. Dick Ratcliffe spoke in support of online disclosure, but voiced his concerns about relying on the free market to provide software to filers when the market for lobbying software was virtually non-existent. Secretary Jones assured Ratcliffe that the software issue will be addressed before any bill goes to the Governor.
The only person who testified in opposition to SB 7 was Alex Alanis, the lobbyist representing the Fair Political Practices Commission, who stated the FPPC's interest in being consulted in the development and approval of the electronic filing system. Senator Kopp took amendments to his bill to address the FPPC's concerns.
Senator Kopp noted the extensive, bi-partisan list of co-authors for SB 7, and made a closing statement on his bill.
SB 49 was then taken up by Chairwoman Karnette, who said that only one bill should get out of today's hearing, and that she thought it should be SB 49, which she noted had provisions that would require statewide candidates and ballot measure committees to file their reports on diskette as well as paper in the 1998 General election. She also stated that she hopes Senator Kopp will be a co-author of SB 7.
Citizen Don Trask spoke of how last year's electronic filing legislation was defeated in the Senate, and he encouraged the Senate to do a better job with this year's legislation. Trudy Schafer of the League of Women Voters voiced her support for both bills, and said that the League would prefer to see the state supply software to filers.
Secretary of State Jones made a final note on the topic of funding before the discussion came to a close. Jones said that his office is currently analyzing the costs for an electronic filing system, and will have a better idea of what those costs are prior to the fiscal committee hearing, but that he anticipated it may be somewhere around $1 million.
The committee vote was then taken on SB 49/Karnette, with Senators Karnette and Rosenthal voting in favor. Next SB 7/Kopp was voted on, with both Senators Karnette and Rosenthal voting in opposition. The committee kept the vote open, and Senator Polanco later added his vote in support of SB 49, giving the bill the three votes needed to pass out of committee. Senator Polanco voted in favor of SB 7, but the bill still failed passage. Once SB 7 was defeated, Senator Karnette switched her vote from no to aye, with the a final committee vote of 2 ayes, and 1 no, still falling one vote short of passage.
So, there were once three electronic filing bills, and now there are two: SB 49/Karnette, and AB 63/Cunneen. Both bills will now head to the fiscal committee of their respective houses, where their fiscal impact will be considered. May 30 is the deadline by which all bills need to be out of fiscal committee in order to continue being considered this year; after that, the next stop is a floor vote.
Over the next few weeks, I expect there will be a lot of discussions about software, privacy issues and the role of the FPPC in online disclosure. In the meantime, both the Secretary of State and the California Legislature are to be commended for the effort they have made so far to meet the public's need and right to have full and immediate online public access to California's political disclosure information.
There seems to be a genuine effort underway to get a good policy in place as soon as possible and to build consensus around some of the more minor policy issues. As long as all the parties involved continue working together, and the public continues to stay involved in the process, it's very likely that we will see a good program emerge from the Legislature this year that will mandate electronic filing and online disclosure for the 1999-2000 election cycle. And, in the meantime, we can look forward to the Secretary of State's voluntary electronic filing system that is coming online for 1998.
Past electronic filing updates, as well as recent news stories, are available through CVF's Digital Sunlight Web site at http://www.digitalsunlight.org.
Kim Alexander, Executive Director, California Voter Foundation
cvf@netcom.com
916/325-2120P.S. Tonight PBS will broadcast a special program on Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers movement. If you are interested in learning more about California politics and history, then be sure to tune in for this program!
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