New bipartisan effort would increase legislative accountability, public access to legislation
“In the last two-year session of the State Legislature, the Senate and Assembly considered nearly 5,000 legislative proposals. Hundreds of those became new laws, from the obscure to the significant. While most of those proposals were publically shared and well-vetted, some were not,” said Wolk, author of Senate Constitutional Amendment 10. “Last-minute changes to bills can leave legislators unsure of what they are voting on, and prevent the public from weighing in on proposals. If approved by voters, this constitutional amendment would ensure public access to laws before they are passed from the Legislature while maintaining sufficient flexibility for the Legislature to do its work.”
“Each year, the Legislature passes bills requiring greater transparency of various agencies and local governments. However, in many instances it fails to hold itself accountable to those same standards of open, transparent, citizen-driven government,” said Olsen, author of Assembly Constitutional Amendment 4. “ACA 4 and SCA 10 will help ensure stakeholders have an opportunity to voice their opposition or support, and that legislators have the time to thoughtfully consider each piece of legislation.”
SCA 10/ACA 4 would amend California’s Constitution to require all legislation, including the state budget, to be in print and publicly available for at least 72 hours before final passage by either house. The only bills that would be exempt from this requirement would be those required to respond to a state of emergency declared by the Governor.
The proposed amendment, which has bipartisan support, also would allow legislative committees to begin reviewing bills after 15 days, rather than 30 days, as currently required, if the language to be considered is both in print and posted online.
“Public confidence in government remains low, and restoring the public’s faith will take a lot of work,” said Wolk, a longtime advocate for more accountability in government. “This constitutional amendment is a practical, meaningful proposal that will strengthen legislative accountability with increased transparency.”
“Californians are largely cynical about their state government and these bills will help increase better decision making and accountability,” Olsen said, who also authored last year’s Legislative Transparency Act. “No matter what one’s ideology is, I would hope we can all agree that greater transparency should be the goal.”
It was 100 years ago that Justice Louis Brandeis, an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court widely considered to be the father of transparency in government, wrote that "sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants."
SCA 10 is being jointly authored by Senate Republican Leader Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and Senator Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), and coauthored by Olsen and Senator Mark DeSaulnier (D-Huff). ACA 4 is being coauthored by Senator Bob Huff (R-Diamond Bar) and Senator Lois Wolk.
Kristin Olsen press release