On Thursday, the California Assembly’s elections committee is set to consider Assembly Bill 2654.
Introduced by Asm. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, the proposal “would prohibit lobbyists and certain public officials and employees, as specified, from entering into, or requesting that another party enter into, a nondisclosure agreement relating to the drafting, negotiation, discussion, or creation of legislation.”
The bill would also invalidate laws negotiated under NDAs.
As first reported by KCRA 3’s Ashley Zavala, “the Service Employees International Union, also known as SEIU, required representatives from the fast food and franchise industry to sign non-disclosure agreements in the final negotiations” of the fast food minimum wage law now in effect across California.
That law came under scrutiny recently following allegations the law was tweaked to the benefit of Greg Flynn, a Panera Bread franchisee and donor to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
As also reported by Zavala, “Newsom’s office led those negotiations without the involvement of any state lawmaker, including the Democratic Assembly member who carried the bill through the Legislature.” Negotiations done out of the public eye are one thing, but imposing NDAs on legislative negotiations is clearly a step too far and for good reason shakes public confidence in state government.
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“Taxpayers deserve more transparency,” Fong said in a statement last month. “Without transparency, trust in government erodes.” Yet as obvious as that sounds, the California Chamber of Commerce came out last week against transparency and against Assemblyman Fong’s legislation.
”While we believe in the need for transparency in State government, we do not see posturing and unnecessary legislation like AB 2654 as doing anything to further that cause,” argued CalChamber’s Ben Golombek in a letter to Fong.
The only posturing here is the posturing of the Chamber of Commerce in defense of behind-the-scenes cronyism. It is not in the best interests of the public for powerful special-interest groups to negotiate substantial matters of public policy under NDAs.
Let’s hope Fong’s bill actually gets a hearing and advances.