Assembly Standing Committee on Elections

We will have a maximum of two primary witnesses in support and two primary witnesses in opposition to the Bill, with a limit of two minutes per witness. So other witnesses are limited to providing their name, their organization they represent, if any, and their position on the Bill. Additional comments will be ruled out of order. Before we move on to the agenda, I have an additional announcement to make.

We have been informed that Assemblymember Essayli is unable to attend today's hearing and that vacancy has not been filled. With those announcements out of the way, we will now move on to the Committee's agenda. The only item on the agenda is AB 1170 by Assemblymember Valencia. Assembly Member, thank you for joining us today. You may present your Bill.

Thank you, Madam Chair and Buenos Diaz. Committee Members AB 1170 will make it easier for individuals to file their statements of economic interest, also known as their form 700s. As elected officials, we're all aware of that form. Thank you to chair Pellerin and also the Committee team for their diligence on this Bill. Since January 2017, the Fair Political Practices Commission has operated and maintained an electronic filing system for form 700s.

Filing through the e filing system is currently voluntary and thousands of individuals have successfully filed their form 700s through the e filing system. Filings submitted by paper require more staff time as these filings must be manually processed. Paper filings can also include more inadvertent errors, which require staff time for outreach and corrections. In addition to creating efficiencies for the FPPC and saving the state resources, e filing has other benefits as well.

Filing electronically is more convenient and once the Filer's information is saved securely on the system, then typically the Filer only needs to add or edit new information. Since the last filing, AB 1170 balances the important need for public transparency with potential safety concerns by expanding the read action provisions in existing law to additionally protect the confidentiality of sensitive information of government employees.

The Bill will also promote efficiency by allowing other statements and reports under the Political Reform act that are filed by paper to be retained under an electronic copy. By shifting to a full use of an electronic filing system and allowing electronic retention of other filings. AB 1170 will help to modernize the state's processes, increase agency efficiency, and streamline the filing process for foreign 700 s. With me today, I have Ms. Lindsey Nakano, senior letters counsel at the Fair Political Action Practices Commission, to give testimony.

Thank you. Thank you, Assembly Member Valencia, and good morning, Madam Chair and Members again, I'm Lindsey Nakano, senior legislative counsel with the FPPC. Statements of economic interests, also known as forms 700s, are crucial instruments for transparency in the context of financial conflicts of interest that may arise during the governmental decision making process.

Thousands of individuals file form 700 s with the Commission each year, and since 2017, the Commission has maintained a very successful electronic filing system that many filers have opted to use over the years. AB 1170 would complete the transition from paper to electronic filing by requiring users to file their form 700s through the Commission's e filing system. The Bill would reduce the administrative burden of processing, scanning, and manually redacting paper filings and would also streamline the filing process for filers.

Thank you to this Committee for your time and attention today. Thank you, Assembly Member Valencia, for your leadership and your stewardship of this Bill. I respectfully ask for your aye vote.

We have a motion and a second. Thank you. That was a motion by Berman and second by Cervantes. Thank you. So, thank you. We now will move on to the primary witnesses in support. As a reminder, each primary witness has a maximum of two minutes. Is there anyone here in the room? Come on.

Just briefly, Madam Chair Members Matthew Siverling, on behalf of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials in support of the Bill, thank the author for his diligent work on this and continuing his effort into the second year of the two year session. And we hope to see it pass this Committee. Thank you.

Anyone else in support here in the room? Seeing none, we will now move on to anyone who is in opposition to the Bill. Please come forward. Yes, you can sit down.

Good morning, Members of the chair. My name is Cynthia Valencia. I am a legislative advocate with the ACLU California Action. We are in between on this Bill. We are not formal opposition. We really have appreciated the conversations we've had with the author's office. We just have some transparency concerns about an extremely narrow part of the Bill. Regarding transparency, the Bill as currently written, there is a part that it would automatically redact essentially all of the information that would be filed in the form 700.

And we have a lot of concerns about business addresses and all real property interests being automatically redacted. So as currently written, the form would immediately, once e filed, be redacted for the public to have access to that information. So we look forward to further conversations with the author so that we can maintain the public transparency and achieve the main goals of the Bill. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any other witnesses who'd like to register your opposition or in between on the Bill? Seeing none, I'll move it back to the Committee here. Any of the Members have any questions? No? Okay, we have a motion and a second. And certainly requiring statements of economic interests that are filed with the FPPC to be filed electronically is a reasonable way to modernize the filing process.

I did that myself as a County Clerk when I was serving in Santa Cruz County, and it was amazing to have that efficiency in the office. So I really do appreciate that. I also believe that the expanded redaction requirements in the Bill are important to ensure filers privacy and safety. I'd like to share that while filling out the form 700, I experienced a technical issue. The form included pre populated dates that were incorrect and could not be changed on the form.

And I understand that the FPPC that this does not occur when you're filing electronically. But however, I'd like a commitment from the FPPC that you will fix this problem in the future for any paper filers. So with that, I am recommending a support position do pass and rereferred to Appropriations Committee. Go ahead and call the vote.

The motion is do pass and be re referred to the Committee on appropriations. [Roll Call]

The measure passes 7-0. Thank you all for showing up this morning. Have a wonderful day. I adjourn.