SB 1303: Legislature: legislative proceedings: audiovisual recordings.

Existing law prohibits a television signal generated by the Assembly from being used for any political or commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, any campaign for elective public office or any campaign supporting or opposing a ballot proposition submitted to the electors. Existing law provides that a person or organization who violates this prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This bill would delete the prohibition described above and would instead authorize the televised or other audiovisual recordings of the public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the committees thereof to be used for any legitimate purpose and without the imposition of any fee due to the State or any public agency or public corporation thereof.

Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel, with the advice of the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules, to make certain information available to the public in electronic form, including, among other things, the text of each bill introduced in each current legislative session, including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of each bill.

This bill would require the Legislative Counsel to also make available to the public in electronic form all audiovisual recordings of legislative proceedings that have been cause to be made by the Legislature, as specified, and would require each recording to remain accessible to the public through the Internet and available for download for a minimum of 20 years following the date on which the recording was made, after which the recording would be required to be archived in a secure format.

Existing law provides that the Attorney General is the head of the Department of Justice and provides that the Attorney General has charge, as attorney, of all legal matters in which the state is interested, except as specified.

This bill would require the Attorney General to defend against any action challenging the validity of the California Legislative Transparency Act. If the Attorney General were to decline to do so, this bill would require the Attorney General to take any actions necessary or appropriate to preserve the states standing to defend the act, and would require the Legislature to continue to comply with the act until the act is declared unconstitutional pursuant to a final judgment of an appellate court.

This bill would specify that it is contingent upon voter approval of the California Legislature Transparency Act at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election.