Political Reform Act of 1974: statements of economic interests.

The Political Reform Act of 1974 regulates conflicts of interests of public officials and requires that public officials file, with specified filing officers, periodic statements of economic interests disclosing certain information regarding income, investments, and other financial data. Under the act, specified local government agencies are permitted to participate in a pilot program whereby certain officials of those agencies may file their statements of economic interests electronically. Existing law provides that the pilot program shall be completed by January 1, 2012, and the provisions of law authorizing the electronic filing of statements of economic interests will be repealed on March 1, 2012. This bill would permit the pilot program to continue until December 31, 2012, and would make technical changes to incorporate references to participation in the program by the City of Long Beach. 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. This bill would declare that it furthers the purposes of the act.