California’s elected and appointed officials will now have to tell the public when they’ve accepted a job offer from a new employer that might seek favors from them while they’re still in a position of power.
Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier this month signed Assembly Bill 1286 by Democratic Assemblymember Tasha Boerner of Solana Beach. The measure requires California’s elected officials and state appointees to note on mandatory conflict of interest forms whether they’ve gotten a new job before their term in office ends.
Boerner introduced the measure in response to a CalMatters story last year that highlighted how lawmakers were not required to tell the public if they were negotiating or had accepted a job with an organization trying to get something from the Legislature.
“People’s distrust of the government is growing,” Boerner said in a statement after the bill was presented to Newsom. “As public servants, one of the most important parts of our job is transparency. It is the one-way ticket to building confidence between government officials and their communities.”
Shery Yang, a spokesperson for the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which enforces California’s ethics laws, said Chairperson Adam Silver proposed the bill idea to Boerner’s office after reading CalMatters’ story.
Under the new law, officials must now provide the commission with the date they accept a job offer, the position they’re going to take and a description of what their employer does, as well as their employer’s name and address. Boerner’s bill passed the Legislature without any lawmaker voting against it.
The CalMatters report came as around a quarter of the Legislature was leaving office. Some lawmakers were searching for their next job while still casting votes, potentially on matters that could benefit their future employers.
Of the 180 lawmakers who left office since 2012, the story noted, around 40 registered as lobbyists, worked as political consultants or took executive-level jobs with companies or organizations actively lobbying at the Capitol.
It’s illegal and considered bribery for a government official to cast votes or do other official favors in exchange for a promise of future employment. It’s also illegal for officials to use state resources to search for or secure a new job.
Lawmakers also are supposed to recuse themselves from any official actions that have “direct and significant” financial impact on an entity with whom they are negotiating employment or who has made them an employment offer,” according to a legislative ethics committee handout.
But state ethics guidelines still allow lawmakers to vote on bills that could benefit a prospective employer, allowing them to discuss and vote on bills that would benefit a “significant segment” of an industry rather than their specific would-be employer.
In practice, that means a lawmaker with a job pending at a major tech company can continue to vote on legislation that impacts all tech companies.
Government ethics experts told CalMatters last year that adding disclosure requirements for job-hunting lawmakers would add needed transparency and help keep lawmakers and lobbyists honest.
FPPC Chairperson Silver called the measure “an important step forward for transparency and accountability in the political process.”
“This reform is about something bigger than disclosure forms — it is about trust,” he said in a statement. “It guarantees that Californians know their government is working for them, not for private interests. And more practically, it ensures that the FPPC has the information necessary to timely and effectively identify and prosecute violations of the state’s ban on influencing prospective employment.”
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