State and local government.

(1) Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board (state board) and the California regional water quality control boards (regional boards) implement the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act by prescribing waste discharge requirements for discharges to the waters of the state, as specified. Existing law authorizes the state board and the regional boards to hold hearings necessary for carrying out their duties, as specified. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, establishes the conduct of administrative adjudicative proceedings, which are defined as evidentiary hearings for determination of facts pursuant to which a state agency formulates and issues a decision. Existing law defines a decision as an agency action of specific application that determines a legal right, duty, privilege, immunity, or other legal interest of a particular person. While an adjudication is pending, the act prohibits, as an ex parte communication, any communication, direct or indirect, regarding any issue in the proceeding, to the presiding officer, as defined, from an employee or representative of an agency that is a party or from an interested person outside the agency, without notice and opportunity for all parties to participate in the communication. The act provides that if the above prohibition is violated, the presiding officer shall promptly disclose the content of the communication on record and give all parties an opportunity to address the communication, as specified. The act also provides that a violation of that prohibition may be grounds for disqualification of the officer who engaged in the ex parte communication. This bill would provide that the ex parte communications provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act do not apply to specified proceedings of the state board or a regional board. The bill would define an ex parte communication for these purposes as an oral or written communication with one or more board members regarding those specified state board or regional board proceedings. This bill would specify the instances in which an ex parte communication involving those specified proceedings is permissible. The bill would authorize a board to prohibit ex parte communications for a period beginning not more than 14 days before the day of a board meeting at which the decision in the proceeding is scheduled for board action. The bill would require all ex parte communications to be reported, as specified, by the interested person, regardless of whether the communication was initiated by the interested person. The bill would authorize the state board or a regional board, in the event that an interested person fails to provide any required notice in the manner required by the bill, to use the remedies available under the administrative adjudication provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. (2) Existing law, the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, generally requires that all meetings of a state body be open and public. The act requires that notice of public meetings and those held in closed session of a state body be given to any person who requests that notice in writing and that the agenda for those meetings be made available upon request without delay. This bill would require the state board or a regional board to make each meeting agenda notice that the state board or a regional board provides available in both English and Spanish and would permit the state board or a regional board to make the agenda notice available in any other language. Under existing law, the act requires that the agenda for meetings provide an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the body on any item of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the body. The act permits the adoption of reasonable regulations limiting the total amount of time allocated for public testimony on particular issues and for each individual speaker. This bill would require a state body subject to the act that limits time for public testimony to provide at least twice the allotted time to a member of the public who utilizes a translator to ensure that non-English speakers receive the same opportunity to directly address the body, with a specified exception.