Garden Grove Chamber Supports A Transparent State Government

8/7/2009 , GAC Committee

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 Dr. Les Malo, Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee, for 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 Malo.
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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