Senator Scott Wilk, R-Santa Clarita, introduced a bill Monday to strengthen transparency measures in all state agencies, including the High-Speed Rail Authority.
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Senate Bill 53 would require state agencies to make all committee meetings public and stop them from using a loophole that allows them to have meetings “behind closed doors,” according to officials.
SB 53 is Wilk’s first order of business for the 2019-20 legislative session.
“The scathing audit of the High-Speed Rail Authority last month underscores how far off track an agency can go when there is not appropriate transparency,” Wilk said in a statement released Monday. “Transparency equals accountability and in the case of the bullet train, the lack of transparency has cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. This has to stop.”
The bill clarifies existing law and defines a “state body” as any multi-member committee.
Current law requires all standing committees of a local government entity or of the Legislature to hold meetings that are open to the public, regardless of whether or not the standing committee takes action.
However, existing law is slightly ambiguous for state bodies, which some state agencies are exploiting as a loophole by limiting their standing committees to no more than two members for the explicit purpose of avoiding open meeting requirements and public scrutiny, according to Wilk.
Within the bill, Wilk lists agencies such as the California High-Speed Rail Authority, First 5 California and the California Veterinary Medical Board as having “misused this hazy language in the Bagley Keene Act to circumvent open meeting requirements.”
Wilk introduced this same legislation twice when he was a member of the State Assembly. Both bills unanimously passed in the legislature, but were vetoed by Governor Jerry Brown.
“We have a new governor coming into office in January. It is my hope Governor Newsom will be supportive of requiring our government to conduct its business in a visible and transparent manner,” Wilk said. “The Legislature unanimously passed both of my previous bills and I expect it will be supportive of ensuring the public be included in meetings that directly affect them.”
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