California Coastal Commission: ex parte communications: staff communications.

The California Coastal Act of 1976, establishes the California Coastal Commission, and prescribes the membership and functions and duties of the commission. The act requires the commission to meet at least 11 times annually at a place convenient to the public. This bill would require the commission, commencing on or before July 1, 2017, to also provide for public participation at all commission meetings via telephone and the Internet, as prescribed. The bill would require the commission to include in the executive summary section of a staff report a list of references to any materials submitted for the public record that are determined not to relate to a matter within the commission's jurisdiction. For purposes of the act, an "ex parte communication" is defined as any oral or written communication between a member of the commission and an interested person, as defined, about a matter within the commission's jurisdiction, as defined, that does not occur in a public hearing, workshop, or other official proceeding or on the official record of the proceeding on the matter, but excludes from that definition certain communications, including communications between a staff member acting in his or her official capacity and any commission member or interested person, as prescribed. The act prohibits a commission member and an interested person from conducting an ex parte communication unless the member fully discloses and makes public the ex parte communication, as specified, and prohibits a commission member or alternate from making, participating in making, or in any other way attempting to use his or her official position to influence a commission decision about which the member or alternate has knowingly had an ex parte communication that has not been reported. This bill would prohibit a commission member or an interested person from intentionally conducting any ex parte communication on a matter within the commission's jurisdiction, as defined, or any oral or written communication regarding a pending enforcement investigation that does not occur in a public hearing, workshop, or other official proceeding, or on the official record of the proceeding on the matter. The bill would require a commission member to report these communications in writing, would require the report to be placed in the public record, and would prohibit a commission member from voting on or otherwise participating in any commission proceeding to which one of these communications applies, even if the communication is reported. The bill would exclude from the above provisions a project site visit by commission members and staff that meets certain requirements and communications conducted by a commission member while acting in his or her capacity as a local government official, as specified. This bill would also require the commission to adopt, at a duly noticed public hearing, a policy that prohibits a commission member from using or attempting to use his or her official position to place undue influence, as defined, on commission staff. The bill would forever disqualify a commission member or alternate who willfully violates that provision from holding any position at the commission.