BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1349|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1349
Author: Hertzberg (D), et al.
Amended: 4/18/16
Vote: 27
SENATE ELECTIONS & C.A. COMMITTEE: 4-0, 4/5/16
AYES: Allen, Anderson, Hertzberg, Liu
NO VOTE RECORDED: Hancock
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Political Reform Act of 1974: Secretary of State:
online filing and disclosure system
SOURCE: California Secretary of State Alex Padilla
Political Reform Act Modernization Coalition
DIGEST: This bill requires the Secretary of State (SOS), in
consultation with the Fair Political Practices Commission
(FPPC), to develop and certify for public use a new online
filing and disclosure system for statements and reports that
provide public disclosure of campaign finance and lobbying
information in a user-friendly, easily understandable format.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to provide
online and electronic filing processes for use by specified
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political committees, lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist
employers pursuant to the Political Reform Act (PRA). This
online reporting and disclosure system is commonly referred
to as the Cal-Access system.
2) Requires the SOS to make all the data filed using the online
and electronic filing process available on the Internet for
public viewing in an easily understood format.
3) Requires the SOS to provide a means or method whereby
entities that are required to file statements or reports
online or electronically with the SOS can submit those
required filings free of charge.
4) Requires all state candidates and state political committees
that are required to file campaign reports to file those
reports online or electronically if the cumulative amount of
contributions received, expenditures made, loans made, or
loans received is $25,000 or more.
5) Provides that the Department of Technology and the
Department of General Services maintain specified oversight
responsibilities regarding state informational technology
procurements.
This bill:
1) Requires the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to develop
and certify for public use a new online filing and disclosure
system for statements and reports that provide public
disclosure of campaign finance and lobbying information in a
user-friendly, easily understandable format.
2) Provides that the new system shall enable a user to comply
with all of the disclosure requirements within the PRA.
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3) Requires the new system to include a data-driven means or
method that allows filers to submit required filings free of
charge in a manner that facilitates public searches of the
data and does all of the following:
a) Enables a filer to comply with all of the disclosure
requirements of this title, including by entering or
uploading requisite data or by indicating that the filer
had no reportable activity during a particular reporting
period.
b) Retains previously-submitted data so that a filer can
access that data to amend disclosures or prepare future
disclosures.
c) Ensures the security of data entered and stored in the
system.
d) To the extent feasible, is compatible with potential
future capability to accept statements from filers who are
candidates for and holders of specified local offices,
elected members of the Board of Administration of the
Public Employees' Retirement System, elected members of
the Teachers' Retirement Board, as well as their
controlled committees, and committees formed or existing
primarily to support or oppose these candidates or elected
officials.
1) Requires the new system to include the definition of a
nonproprietary standardized record format or formats using
industry standards for the transmission of the data that is
required of those persons and entities required to file
online and that conforms with the disclosure requirements of
the PRA.
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2) Provides that the SOS shall accept test files from software
vendors and others wishing to file reports electronically for
the purpose of determining whether the file format is in
compliance with the standardized record format developed
pursuant to this bill and is compatible with the SOS's new
system for receiving the data. The SOS shall publish and
make available to the public a list of the software and
service providers who have submitted acceptable test files.
A filer shall submit acceptably formatted files in order to
meet the requirements of this chapter.
3) Requires the SOS to make the data filed available on the
Internet as follows:
a) In a user-friendly, easily understandable format that
provides the greatest public access, including online
searches and machine-readable downloads.
b) Free of charge and as soon as possible after receipt,
or, in the case of late contribution, late in-kind
contribution, and late independent expenditure reports, as
defined, within 24 hours of receipt.
c) Not contain the street name or building number of the
persons or entity representatives listed on the
electronically filed forms or any bank account number
required to be disclosed pursuant to the PRA.
d) In a manner that allows the public to track and
aggregate contributions from the same contributor across
filers using a permanent unique identifier assigned by the
SOS for this purpose. The SOS shall assign this identifier
to, at minimum, each contributor who makes contributions
totaling $10,000 or more in a calendar year to, or at the
behest of, candidates or committees that file
electronically with the SOS or who is registered with the
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SOS as a major donor committee.
4) Requires the SOS to do all of the following:
a) Develop a procedure for filers to comply
electronically with the requirement to sign their
submissions under penalty of perjury. The electronic
signature procedure shall allow the filer to file with the
SOS and shall not require an original signature to be
filed.
b) Maintain all filed data online for at least 10 years
after the date it is filed, and then archive the
information in a secure format.
c) Provide assistance to those seeking public access to
the information.
d) Implement sufficient technology to seek to prevent
unauthorized alteration or manipulation of the data.
e) Provide the FPPC with necessary information to enable
it to assist agencies, public officials, and others in
complying with and administering this title.
f) Consult with the Assembly Committee on Elections and
Redistricting, the Senate Committee on Elections and
Constitutional Amendments, the FPPC, users, filers, and
other stakeholders, as appropriate, about functions of the
online filing and disclosure system and record format.
g) No later than December 31, 2017, submit a report to
the Assembly Committee on Elections and Redistricting and
the Senate Committee on Elections and Constitutional
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Amendments that includes a plan for the online filing and
disclosure system, describes how members of the public
will be able to query and retrieve data from the system,
and includes a plan for integrating statements.
5) Provides that, in consultation with the FPPC, the SOS shall,
no later than July 31, 2017, hold at least one public hearing
to receive input on development of the online filing and
disclosure system and record format.
6) Requires that the SOS shall make the new online filing and
disclosure system available for use no later than February 1,
2019. The SOS may extend this date to a date no later than
December 31, 2019, after consulting with the Assembly
Committee on Elections and Redistricting and the Senate
Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments and
providing to those committees a report that explains the need
for the extension and includes a plan for completion.
7) Provides that the SOS may accept any funds, services,
equipment or grants to further the goals of this bill, as
specified.
8) Provides that because the provisions of this chapter need to
be implemented as expeditiously as possible, existing
information technology procurement requirements do not apply
to development of the new online filing system but does
require the SOS to consult with the Department of Technology,
as appropriate, in developing the online filing and
disclosure system.
9) Provides that before making the new system available for
public use, the SOS shall test it to ensure its functionality
and then certify that the system meets all specified
requirements. The SOS may consult with the Department of
Technology as needed to fulfill these testing requirements.
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Background
Cal-Access Issues and MapLight Partnership. Created in 1999,
Cal-Access is the database and filing system the SOS has used to
make much of the lobbying and campaign finance information
available online at no cost to users. On November 30, 2011, the
Cal-Access system went down, and the system was unavailable for
most of the month of December. Although the system has remained
online since the cause of the failure was addressed, frequent
concerns have been expressed by users and other observers
regarding the current state and usefulness of Cal-Access.
The Legislature later enacted SB 1001 (Yee, Chapter 506,
Statutes of 2012), which imposed a $50 annual fee on political
committees that are required to file disclosure reports pursuant
to the PRA and increased the fee on lobbying firms and lobbyist
employers from $25 to $50 per year per lobbyist. The revenue
generated by the bill is deposited into the Political
Disclosure, Accountability, Transparency, and Access Fund (PDATA
Fund), and is available to be used to update or replace
Cal-Access. It is estimated that these fees result in
approximately $450,000 of new revenue yearly for the PDATA Fund.
Subsequent legislative efforts to upgrade or replace the system
since passage of SB 1001 have so far proved unsuccessful.
On September 3, 2015, the SOS announced the launching of Power
Search, a new open source campaign finance search engine
available on the SOS's Web site described as "the first step in
modernizing and upgrading Cal-Access." Power Search was
developed in conjunction with MapLight, a nonprofit, nonpartisan
research organization that tracks money's influence on politics
and funded with a grant from the James Irvine Foundation.
According to the SOS, "The new Power Search tool provides an
easy-to-use interface to search campaign finance data that is
refreshed daily from the state's existing Cal-Access system."
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Comments
1)According to the author, SB 1349 modernizes California's
online database of campaign and lobbying information to make
it user friendly and easy for the public to access in a timely
fashion. The present Cal-Access system is outdated,
disorganized and difficult to use. Secretary of State Alex
Padilla has called it "a Frankenstein's monster of code" that
is in need of "a complete rebuild." It undermines democracy
when the public cannot easily access information about
campaign and lobbying disclosures - or easily search for it.
SB 1349 directs the state to overhaul the Secretary of State's
antiquated Cal-Access system. It establishes important
guidelines for the project, including creating a system that
is data driven, rather than form-based, and adhering to
prevailing standards for search and open data. The bill
prescribes using cost-effective, streamlined and innovative
information technology development processes to deliver an
improved system faster. It calls for a system that permits
future compatibility with local campaign finance data.
Governor Brown has written "There is no doubt the current system
- widely viewed as outdated and cumbersome - needs upgrading."
SB 1349 is supported by Secretary of State Alex Padilla,
California Common Cause, the League of Women Voters, the
California Business Roundtable, and numerous other labor,
business and reform groups.
2)Show Me the Money. In a letter dated March 11, 2016, Senator
Hertzberg, the author of this bill, requested a budget
augmentation to allow the SOS to modernize the Cal-Access
system. In that letter, Senator Hertzberg stated that the SOS
estimated the cost of replacing the system at $13.5 million.
While the letter does not address existing and anticipated
moneys from the PDATA Fund, it is safe to assume that the
PDATA Fund will take too long to provide enough money to
replace Cal-Access within a reasonable time frame.
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3)Technology Oversight Exemption Déjà Vu. The provision of this
bill that exempts the SOS from various information technology
requirements and from project is similar to a provision of SB
397 (Yee, Chapter 561, Statutes of 2011), which permitted
online voter registration to begin prior to the completion of
a new statewide voter registration database.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 3 (Yee and Lieu, 2013) would have required, among other
things, the SOS to develop a feasibility study report to outline
the technology requirements and the costs of a new statewide
electronic campaign filing and disclosure system. SB 3 was
vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto message, the Governor
stated that other provisions of the bill were "costly and
unnecessary," but also acknowledged that the current campaign
filing and disclosure system needed to be upgraded and he
directed the Government Operations Agency (GOA) to consult the
FPPC and the SOS and make recommendations on the best way to
improve campaign disclosure. One of the options presented in
the GOA report was to replace Cal-Access.
SB 1442 (Lara, 2013) would have required, among other things,
the SOS, in consultation with the FPPC, to develop a new
statewide Internet-based system for the electronic filing and
public display of all records filed pursuant to the PRA with
search capabilities that are data-driven and user-friendly for
members of the public. SB 1442 was also vetoed by Governor
Brown. In his veto message, the Governor stated that before an
additional information technology project is authorized, the SOS
should complete the two other projects that were underway at the
time.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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The Office of the SOS indicates that it would incur one-time
costs of $11.6 million and ongoing annual costs of $2.8
million related to information technology (General Fund).
Costs to FPPC would increase by $131,000 in the first year,
and $124,000 ongoing (General Fund) to allow it to interface
with the new system developed by SOS. Additionally, FPPC would
experience unknown, but probably minor, costs to update forms,
and modify regulations to reflect the new information
technology system.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/27/16)
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla (co-source)
Political Reform Act Modernization Coalition (co-source)
California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones
American Sustainable Business Council
American Association of Retired Persons
California Business Roundtable
California Chamber of Commerce
California Church IMPACT
California Clean Money Campaign
California Common Cause
California Forward
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
California Newspaper Publishers Association
California Political Treasurers Association
California Professional Firefighters
California School Employees Association
California State Council of the Service Employees International
Union
California Voices for Progress
CALPIRG
Campaign Legal Center
Courage Campaign
Fair Political Practices Commission
First Amendment Coalition
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Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Innovate Your State
League of Women Voters of California
MapLight
National Federation of Independent Business
National Institute on Money in State Politics
Public Citizen
Small Business Majority
UFCW Western States Council
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/27/16)
None received
Prepared by:Darren Chesin / E. & C.A. / (916) 651-4106
5/28/16 17:09:50
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