TO: Interested Parties
FROM: Kim Alexander, California Voter Foundation
DATE: August 29, 1996
RE: SB 108/Kopp: Electronic Filing

In a surprising turn of events, the California State Assembly yesterday passed SB 108/Kopp, a bill that would result in Internet access to political disclosure records by requiring that those records be filed electronically rather than on paper. SB 108, which amends the Political Reform Act and therefore requires a two-thirds vote to pass, easily sailed out of the Assembly on a 65-4 vote (the vote tally is available at the end of this message).

The bill was taken up by Jackie Speier, one of the bill's co-authors who earlier this year introduced AB 2546, another electronic filing bill that stalled in the Assembly in May. SB 108 was amended to include many of the provisions of AB 2546, as well as language contained in AB 1026/McPherson, yet another electronic filing bill that was held in the Senate Elections Committee in July.

In her opening statement, Speier talked of eliminating the "pile of pulp" that our current disclosure process has become, noting that half a million pieces of paper were filed with the Secretary of State in the last election.

Bruce McPherson, another SB 108 co-author, also spoke in favor of the bill, saying it will move the process "from the stone age to the information age". Dom Cortese, the lone Reform Party member of the Legislature and SB 108 co-author, spoke in favor of the bill as well.

Steve Kuykendall questioned whether the bill would make donors' street addresses available on the Internet, noting concern for donors like the "next door neighbor who gives me a hundred bucks". Speier replied that the bill had indeed been amended to address that concern, and now requires the street addresses to be available at the Secretary of State's office, but not on the Internet, which satisfied Kuykendall.

Debra Bowen also spoke on the bill, stating that she had problems with some of the language in the bill. Bowen spoke to concerns she had over criminalizing use of public records, and also indicated that she believes the $750,000 appropriation to the Secretary of State is excessive. Despite these concerns, Bowen stated she would vote for SB 108, and promised that she would make sure these problems were addressed next year.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate, where, I am told, the Senate Rules Committee will refer it to the Senate Elections Committee for hearing. (As often happens at the end of a legislative session, many committees hold last minute, "ad hoc" hearings this time of year, which is probably what will happen to SB 108.)

The prospects for this bill in the Senate are unknown -- the Senate Elections Committee has a mixed history on electronic filing legislation. Just last month, for example, three of the committee's members - Richard Polanco, Dan Boatwright and Henry Mello - voted to send McPherson's AB 1026 to "interim study", which effectively killed the bill (the committee's other two members, Bill Craven and Bob Beverly, did not vote on the measure). Earlier this year, the same committee also voted to send Tom Hayden's electronic filing bill, SB 1893, to interim study. The committee has yet to hold an informational hearing on either bill.

Like earlier proposals, SB 108 is supported by organizations such as the League of Women Voters, Common Cause, AARP, and the California Newspaper Publishers Association. But unlike earlier legislation, SB 108 enjoys multi-partisan support, as was demonstrated by yesterday's remarkable Assembly floor vote.

However, Bill Lockyer, the leader of the California State Senate, apparently has some reservations about the bill, similar to those raised by Debra Bowen. I have been told that Senator Lockyer is very supportive of electronic filing, but has serious concerns about language in the bill dealing with harassment and commercial use of donor records.

Some people have suggested that these concerns can be addressed by the Legislature in 1997, since none of the campaign finance records would be on the Internet until 1998 anyway. However, there is some question about whether those provisions could later be amended out, since the Political Reform Act can only be amended in ways that "further the purposes of the act". Legislative Counsel is investigating the situation and should come up with an opinion soon (those of you with any expertise in this area might also want to study the bill's language and share whatever conclusions you come up with).

If the bill passes out of the Senate Elections Committee, it will proceed to the Senate Floor where it will require a two-thirds vote - 27 votes - to pass and continue to the Governor's desk.

Those interested in learning more about the legislative history on this issue can visit the California Voter Foundation's "Digital Sunlight" website at www.digitalsunlight.org and review the Legislative Updates. (And, for those of you who really aren't interested in this subject, please forgive the frequency of these postings - it will all be over soon!)


VOTES - ROLL CALL

MEASURE: SB 108

AUTHOR:	Kopp

TOPIC:	Secretary of State: duties: Political Reform Act of 1974:

electronic filing.

DATE:	08/28/96

LOCATION: ASM. FLOOR

MOTION:	SB 108 KOPP THIRD READING BY SPEIER

(AYES 65. NOES 4.) (PASS)



Ayes:



FRED AGUIAR (R)

BARBARA ALBY (R)

DEDE ALPERT (D)

JOE BACA (D)

STEVE BALDWIN (R)

TOM BATES (D)

JIM BATTIN (R)

SCOTT BAUGH (R)

PAULA BOLAND (R)

TOM BORDONRARO (R)

DEBRA BOWEN (D)

LARRY BOWLER (R)

VALERIE BROWN (D)

JIM BRULTE (R)

JOHN BURTON (D)

BOB CAMPBELL (D)

SAL CANNELLA (D)

MICKEY CONROY (R)

DOM CORTESE (REF)

JIM CUNNEEN (R)

SUSAN DAVIS (D)

DENISE DUCHENY (D)

MARTHA ESCUTIA (D)

LIZ FIGUEROA (D)

BARBARA FRIEDMAN (D)

PETER FRUSETTA (R)

MARTIN GALLEGOS (D)

JAN GOLDSMITH (R)

BRETT GRANLUND (R)

TOM HANNIGAN (D)

TRICE HARVEY (R)

DAN HAUSER (D)

PHIL HAWKINS (R)

BILL HOGE (R)

GEORGE HOUSE (R)

PHIL ISENBERG (D)

HOWARD KALOOGIAN (R)

RICHARD KATZ (D)

PETE KNIGHT (R)

WALLY KNOX (D)

STEVE KUYKENDALL (R)

MICHAEL MACHADO (D)

GIL MARGETT (R)

DIANE MARTINEZ (D)

KERRY MAZZONI (D)

BRUCE MCPHERSON (R)

CAROL MIGDEN (D)

JIM MORRISSEY (R)

BILL MORROW (R)

KEVIN MURRAY (D)

WILLARD MURRAY (D)

GRACE NAPOLITANO (D)

CHUCK POOCHIGIAN (R)

RICHARD RAINEY (R)

BERNIE RICHTER (R)

JAMES ROGAN (R)

BRIAN SETENCICH (R)

JACKIE SPEIER (D)

JIM SWEENEY (D)

NAO TAKASUGI (R)

CURTIS TUCKER (D)

JOHN VASCONCELLOS (D)

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (D)

TED WEGGELAND (R)

TOM WOODS (R)



Noes - 4



DICK ACKERMAN (R)

MARILYN BREWER (R)

KEITH OLBERG (R)

BRUCE THOMPSON (R)



Not Voting - 11



MARGUERITE ARCHIE -HUDSON (D) (absent - at Dem. NatUl Convention) CRUZ BUSTAMANTE (D)

LOUIS CALDERA (D) (absent - at convention) BROOKS FIRESTONE (R)

DAVID KNOWLES (R)

SHEILA KUEHL (D) (absent - at convention) BARBARA LEE (D) (absent - at convention) GARY MILLER (R)

CURT PRINGLE (R)

two vacancies
Kim Alexander, Executive Director, California Voter Foundation
cvf@netcom.com
916/325-2120

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