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Transparency In
Government
June 15, 2009
Garden Grove
Chamber Supports Government Transparency Proposal
Do you have any idea what is taking place at the state capitol?
Does your neighbor know? Why not? In this case what you
don’t know can certainly hurt you. It is this reason the Garden
Grove Chamber of Commerce is actively supporting a proposed
piece of legislation to help bring open government to
Sacramento.
A constitutional amendment designed to allow the public to react
to last minute changes in legislative proposals has been
introduced by Assembly Member Kevin Jeffries (R – Lake
Elsinore). ACA 8 would require the Legislature and committees in
both houses to post an agenda containing a description of each
item 72 hours in advance before action can be taken. This is a
current requirement for all municipalities, agencies and other
public boards also known as the Brown Act.
“All of our local governments are required to this, why not the
state legislature?” stated Connie Margolin, President and CEO of
the Garden Grove Chamber of Commerce. “Our state legislature
should follow the same rules that are required of our local city
governments, school boards, and other public organizations that
are required to post 72 hours in advance. We have a state
legislature that creates new laws and regulations each and every
day without giving the public the time to review the proposals,”
continued Margolin.
Currently the legislature uses a process called “gut and amend”
that has been a staple in the legislature for some time. The
“gut and amend" is a practice used during the end of a
legislative session and during budget negotiations in which the
entire contents of a bill are deleted ("gut") and replaced with
something new ("amend") usually completely different than the
original intent of the bill. This process does not allow input
from the public or interested organizations due to the lack of
time to respond. Furthermore, in some instances, legislators are
even forced to vote on something they have not had time to
review because of the process.
ACA 8 has still not received a hearing in the legislature and it
was introduced over 7 months ago. The Garden Grove Chamber
understands that this will be an uphill battle and urges the
business community to weigh in with its opinions.
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