TO: CVF-NEWS
FROM: Kim Alexander
DATE: September 4, 1997
RE: SB 49 advances to Assembly Floor!!

Hi Folks:

Today the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 16 - 2 to pass SB 49/Karnette, a bill that would mandate electronic filing of, and Internet access to campaign finance and lobbying disclosure data. The bill now advances to the Assembly floor, where it is likely to be taken up for a vote either Monday, September 8th or Tuesday, September 9th!

If the Assembly succeeds in passing SB 49, the bill will then go back to the Senate for concurrence in Assembly amendments. (Given that SB 49 already passed out of the Senate in June on a strong, bi-partisan vote of 31-7, the Senate is likely to pass the bill once again.) From the Senate, the bill would advance to Governor Wilson, who can either sign or veto the bill, or let it take effect without his signature.

If enacted, SB 49 would require that all campaigns that raise or spend $50,000 or file their records in a digital format, beginning in the 1999-2000 election cycle. The bill also directs the Secretary of State to publish those records on the Internet.

SB 49 is shaping up to be one of the most closely-watched bills of this legislative year, and represents one of the most important measures currently under consideration by the Legislature. Several articles are in the works and should be published in the coming days -- look for stories in the San Francisco Examiner, Santa Barbara News-Press, and Orange County Register.

Here’s how members of the Assembly Appropriations committee voted on SB 49 today: All 13 Democrats on the committee voted in favor of SB 49; three Republicans also voted for it; three Republicans abstained, and two Republicans voted against it:

Carole Midgen (D- San Francisco); Chair -- YES
Charles Poochigian (R - Fresno); Vice-Chair -- YES
Dick Ackerman (R - Fullerton) -- NO
Fred Aguiar (R - Chino) -- YES
Joe Baca (D - Rialto) -- YES
Tom Bordonaro (R - Paso Robles) -- NOT VOTING
Marilyn Brewer (R - Newport Beach) -- NOT VOTING
Tony Cardenas (D - Sylmar) -- YES
Brett Granlund (R - Yucaipa) -- YES
Sheila Kuehl (D - Santa Monica) -- YES
Michael Machado (D - Linden) -- YES
Bob Hertzberg (D - Sherman Oaks) -- YES
Keith Olberg (R - Victorville) -- NOT VOTING
Lou Papan (D - Millbrae) -- YES
Don Perata (D - Alameda) -- YES
Kevin Shelley (D - San Francisco) -- YES
MIke Sweeney (D - Hayward) -- YES
Bruce Thompson (R - Fallbrook) -- NO
Helen Thomson (D - Davis) -- YES
Antonio Villaraigosa (D - Los Angeles) -- YES
Carl Washington (D - Paramount) -- YES

All of the groups that are lobbying for this bill -- including the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, Consumers Union, CalPIRG, AARP, and the California Newspaper Publishers Association -- have been working the halls of the Legislature and many groups are mobilizing their members for phone calls and letter-writing campaigns.

If you would like to contact your legislators on this or any other issue, be sure to visit the California Voter Foundation’s new Internet Guide to California’s Legislature, which includes legislative rosters, featuring phone numbers and email addresses, as well as tips on how to be an effective citizen lobbyist. You can find the guide at www.calvoter.org.

Also available is CVF’s Digital Sunlight web site, at www.digitalsunlight.org, which features electronic filing news stories, links to online campaign finance databases, and an archive of my past legislative updates on SB 49.

-- Kim Alexander, Executive Director, California Voter Foundation
kimalex@netcom.com

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