California Assembly Bill AB2002 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: AB 2002INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Mark Stone, Atkins, and Levine (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Gordon) (Principal coauthor: Senator Jackson) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Bloom, Chiu, Gonzalez, Jones-Sawyer, McCarty, O'Donnell, Rendon, Thurmond, Ting, Weber, Williams, and Wood) (Coauthors: Senators Allen, Block, Pavley, and Wolk) FEBRUARY 16, 2016 An act to amend Sections 82002, 82039, and 86300 of the Government Code, and to amend Section 30325 of the Public Resources Code, relating to the Political Reform Act of 1974. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2002, as introduced, Mark Stone. Political Reform Act of 1974: California Coastal Commission. Existing law establishes the California Coastal Commission in the Natural Resources Agency and designates the commission as the state coastal zone planning and management agency for all purposes. The Political Reform Act of 1974 provides for the regulation of the lobbying industry, including defining the term "lobbyist" and regulating the conduct of lobbyists. Among its provisions, the act prohibits lobbyists from engaging in certain activities, including accepting or agreeing to accept any payment in any way contingent upon the defeat, enactment, or outcome of any proposed legislative or administrative action. Under the act, a lobbyist is, among others, an individual whose principal duties as an employee are to communicate with, among others, any agency official for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. For these purposes, "administrative action" is defined as the proposal, drafting, development, consideration, amendment, enactment, or defeat by a state agency of any rule, regulation, or other action in any ratemaking or quasi-legislative proceeding and "agency official" is defined as any member, officer, employee, or consultant of any state agency who participates in any administrative action in other than a ministerial capacity. This bill would revise the definition of "administrative action" to include, with regard to proceedings before the California Coastal Commission, specified actions, plans, and orders, and any other quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative matter requiring commission action. The bill would, however, exclude from these provisions relating to lobbyists an individual who communicates with a member of the California Coastal Commission for compensation to advocate for an outcome in relation to no more than one administrative action during a calendar year and an employee of a local government agency seeking, within the scope of his or her employment, to influence quasi-judicial decisions of the commission. The bill would also, for purposes of a quasi-judicial matter before the California Coastal Commission, limit the definition of "agency official" to a member of the commission. Existing law makes a knowing and willful violation of the Political Reform Act of 1974 a misdemeanor and subjects offenders to criminal penalties. This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding those crimes. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes with a 2/3 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 82002 of the Government Code is amended to read: 82002. (a) "Administrative action" means  either   any  of the following: (1) The proposal, drafting, development, consideration, amendment, enactment, or defeat by any state agency of any rule, regulation, or other action in any ratemaking proceeding or any quasi-legislative proceeding, which shall include any proceeding governed by Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2. (2) With regard only to placement agents, the decision by any state agency to enter into a contract to invest state public retirement system assets on behalf of a state public retirement system.  (3) For purposes of proceedings before the California Coastal Commission, the proposal, drafting, development, consideration, amendment, enactment, or defeat of any rule, regulation, permit action, federal consistency review, appeal, local coastal program, port master plan, public works plan, long-range development plan, categorical or other exclusion from coastal development permit requirements, cease and desist order, restoration order, or any other quasi-judicial or quasi-legislative matter requiring commission action.  (b) "Ratemaking proceeding" means, for the purposes of a proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission, any proceeding in which it is reasonably foreseeable that a rate will be established, including, but not limited to, general rate cases, performance-based ratemaking, and other ratesetting mechanisms. (c) "Quasi-legislative proceeding" means, for purposes of a proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission, any proceeding that involves consideration of the establishment of a policy that will apply generally to a group or class of persons, including, but not limited to, rulemakings and investigations that may establish rules affecting an entire industry. SEC. 2. Section 82039 of the Government Code is amended to read: 82039. (a) "Lobbyist" means either of the following: (1) Any individual who receives two thousand dollars ($2,000) or more in economic consideration in a calendar month, other than reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses, or whose principal duties as an employee are, to communicate directly or through his or her agents with any elective state official, agency official, or legislative official for the purpose of influencing legislative or administrative action. (2) A placement agent, as defined in Section 82047.3. (b) An individual is not a lobbyist by reason of activities described in Section 86300. (c) For the purposes of subdivision (a), a proceeding before the Public Utilities Commission constitutes "administrative action" if it meets any of the definitions set forth in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 82002. However, a communication made for the purpose of influencing this type of Public Utilities Commission proceeding is not within subdivision (a) if the communication is made at a public hearing, public workshop, or other public forum that is part of the proceeding, or if the communication is included in the official record of the proceeding.  (d) Notwithstanding Section 82004, for purposes of a quasi-judicial matter before the California Coastal Commission, as described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 82002, "agency official," as used in subdivision (a) of this section, shall only mean a member of the California Coastal Commission.   (e) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), "lobbyist" shall not include an individual who communicates with a member of the California Coastal Commission for compensation to advocate for an outcome in relation to no more than one administrative action during a calendar year.  SEC. 3. Section 86300 of the Government Code is amended to read: 86300. The provisions of this chapter are not applicable  to:   to any of the following:  (a)  Any   An  elected public official acting in his  or her  official  capacity,   capacity  or  any   an  employee of the  State of California   state  acting within the scope of his  employment; provided that,   or her employment. However,  an employee of the  State of California,  state,  other than a legislative official, who attempts to influence legislative action and who would be required to register as a  lobbyist   lobbyist,  except for the provisions of this  subdivision   subdivision,  shall not make gifts of more than ten dollars ($10) in a calendar month to an elected state officer or legislative official. (b)  Any   A  newspaper or other periodical of general circulation, book publisher, radio or television  station (including   station,  any individual who owns, publishes, or is employed by any such newspaper or periodical,  or  radio or television  station)   station,  which in the ordinary course of business publishes news items, editorials, or other comments, or  paid advertisement, which   advertisements that  directly or indirectly urge legislative or administrative  action   action,  if  such   that  newspaper, periodical, book publisher, radio or television  station   station,  or individual, engages in no further or other activities in connection with urging legislative or administrative action other than to appear before a committee of the Legislature or before a state agency in support of or in opposition to such  action; or   action.  (c) A person when representing a bona fide church or religious society solely for the purpose of protecting the public right to practice the doctrines of such church.  (d) An employee of a local government agency seeking, within the scope of his or her employment, to influence quasi-judicial decisions of the California Coastal Commission.  SEC. 4. Section 30325 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 30325.  (a)    Nothing in this article prohibits any person or any interested person from testifying at a commission hearing, workshop, or other official proceeding, or from submitting written comments for the record on a matter before the commission. Written comments shall be submitted by mail or delivered to a commission office, or may be delivered to the commission at the time and place of a scheduled hearing.  (b) Any person who communicates with the members of the commission regarding an administrative action of the commission, as defined in paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 82002 of the Government Code, and who qualifies as a lobbyist, as defined in subdivisions (a) and (d) of Section 82039 of the Government Code, shall comply with the requirements of Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 86100) of Title 9 of the Government Code.  SEC. 5. The Legislature finds and declares that the provisions of this act further the purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974 within the meaning of subdivision (a) of Section 81012 of the Government Code. SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.