California Earthquake Authority: mitigation officer.

Existing law provides for the California Earthquake Authority (CEA) governed by a 3-member governing board consisting of the Governor, the Treasurer, and the Insurance Commissioner. The Speaker of the Assembly and the Chairperson of the Senate Committee on Rules serve as nonvoting, ex officio members of the board. The CEA is vested with certain powers and duties, including, but not limited to, the authorization to contract for services of a chief executive officer, a chief financial officer, and an operations manager, each of whom is required to file financial disclosure statements with the Fair Political Practices commission. This bill would authorize the CEA to contract for the services of a chief mitigation officer, and the chief mitigation officer would be required to file financial disclosure statements with the Fair Political Practices Commission. The board would be required to establish the duties of, and give direction to, the chief mitigation officer to support and enhance the CEA's efforts to create and maintain specified mitigation activities. The bill would also authorize the CEA to accept grants and gifts of property and services for the Earthquake Loss Mitigation Fund or the related residential retrofit program from federal, state, and local government sources and private sources. The Political Reform Act of 1974, an initiative measure, provides that the Legislature may amend the act to further the act's purposes upon a 23 vote of each house and compliance with specified procedural requirements. A violation of the filing duties of the act is a misdemeanor. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.