Huber wants to let sunshine in

Legislator seeks to ease access to finance records

SACRAMENTO - Assemblywoman Alyson Huber says she wants to make it easier for the public to follow the money in politics.

So Huber, D-El Dorado Hills, whose 10th Assembly District includes Lodi and other portions of San Joaquin County, has drafted two bills she says would increase public access to campaign finance and lobbying records.

"I think we should be doing everything we can to make government as open as possible," Huber said.

Follow the bills.

To track the progress of AB1274 and AB1181, go to www.leginfo.ca.gov and click "Bill Information."

One of the freshman lawmaker's bills, AB1274, would require the California secretary of state to do a better job of linking reported lobbying activities to specific legislation.

Detailed lobbying information, while already public record, is "not organized in a way that the average citizen can figure out the information they really want to know," Huber said.

"If you want to find out who is spending money to influence a piece of legislation," she said, "you have to compile it yourself."

Huber's other bill, AB1181, would force anyone who files campaign finance disclosure forms to do so on the Internet. Most do, but some are exempt.

Neither bill would change basic reporting requirements or deadlines.

Under her proposed lobbying bill, state officials would be required periodically to publish an online list of lobbyists who fought for or against the same bills.

At least one open-government advocate praised the proposed legislation.

"Every day, lobbyists are swarming Sacramento to get their clients' interests taken care of," said Daniel Newman, executive director and co-founder of MAPLight.org, a nonprofit Web site that connects political donations to legislative votes.

Newman said he had not seen Huber's legislation, but he said, "If lobbying data is also required to be published ... in a format that's easy for members of the public to research and analyze, that will make it possible for California citizens to connect the dots."

Huber's bills are a long way from becoming law. Both were introduced late last month and have not yet been considered in legislative committees, their next step.

Excerpted from www.recordnet.com