TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation
DATE: August 12, 1996
RE: SB 108/Kopp: Electronic Filing of Political Disclosure RecordsToday the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted to place SB 108 on its suspense calendar, which will be taken up by the committee on August 21st.
If enacted, SB 108 would require candidates, elected officials and lobbyists to file their political disclosure records electronically, which would allow for convenient and timely access to such records via the Internet.
The placement of the bill on the suspense calendar is standard procedure in the Capitol - any bill with an appropriation of $150,0000 or more automatically goes to suspense, and must later be pulled off the suspense calendar in order to continue moving through the legislative process. (SB 108 appropriates $750,000 to the Secretary of State.)
At today's hearing, the committee listened to supportive testimony from the bill's author, Senator Quentin Kopp, as well as co-authors Jackie Speier and Bruce McPherson. Testimony in opposition was given by a representative of the Fair Political Practices Commission, who stated numerous objections. The FPPC's biggest problem with SB 108 is that it contained a requirement that statements of economic interest (SEI's) would also have to be filed electronically with the Secretary of State. SEI's, which disclose lawmakers and other government officials' investments, property holdings, gifts and outside income, are currently filed with the FPPC. Essentially, what the FPPC objected to is not the concept that SEI's should be filed electronically, but rather, that the bill would infringe on the FPPC's "turf".
Two lawmakers, Larry Bowler and Appropriations Chairman Charles Poochigian, both expressed concern about electronic filing of the SEI's, which, coupled with the FPPC's opposition, prompted Senator Kopp to amend his bill to remove the electronic filing requirement of the statements of economic interest.
Although the amendment will reduce the amount of information to be disclosed electronically, the SEI's in fact weren't included in the original electronic filing plan. The Secretary of State's Electronic Filing Advisory Panel did not include statements of economic interest in our recommendations because of the fact that those statements were covered by a different agency (the FPPC) and we wanted to focus only on those documents filed with the Secretary of State. The panel felt that the SEI's would be better covered in separate legislation.
One important technicality to note is that SB 108 amends the Political Reform Act and therefore falls under what's known as the "12-day rule", which requires that any bill that amends the Political Reform Act must be in print for 12 days in the version it's to be voted on before it can be considered by either house of the Legislature. That means that there can be no more amendments to SB 108 if it is to pass before the Legislature adjourns for the year on August 31st. (If the Legislature adjourns earlier than August 31st, as some in the Capitol have speculated, it could spell the end for SB 108.)
The Assembly Appropriations committee will again consider SB 108 when it takes up its suspense calendar on August 21st. If the bill is taken off suspense, it will then quickly proceed to the Assembly floor, then, if passed, back to the Senate for concurrence in Assembly amendments. If the Senate concurs, the bill will then go to Governor Wilson for his signature or veto.
Stay tuned.....
Kim Alexander, Executive Director, California Voter Foundation
cvf@netcom.com
916/325-2120
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