California public labor unions’ secrecy lobby is at it again.
This time their pawn is Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra, D-San Fernando, who introduced legislation sealing off public access to records about local government negotiations with public employees.
AB 1455 is the latest insidious move to block taxpayers from knowing how their money is being bargained away, and what public employees’ raises and benefit enhancements will cost.
It follows a horrible 2015 law signed by Gov. Jerry Brown that penalized government boards trying to reasonably day-light their negotiations.
Each time, we hear the same lame, self-serving arguments: These negotiations are sensitive and need to be conducted secretly; public disclosure would be disruptive. There’s no evidence to support that claim.
Indeed, consequences of the current system have been devastating. The cost of public employee salaries and benefits are strangling many local governments.
This reckless spending occurs because negotiations between elected officials and the unions that often finance their political campaigns occur behind closed doors.
The public doesn’t learn how much they have to pay until after the deals are cut. By then it’s too late to change anything.
Some officials have tried to end the secrecy. Led by the city of Costa Mesa, they adopted rules to promote transparency.
Dubbed COIN ordinances, for “Civic Openness in Negotiations,” the rules required public release of offers and counteroffers in a timely manner on the city’s website, along with analysis by an independent financial expert.
Residents were given opportunities at council meetings to comment during negotiations. Once a deal was struck, it was subjected to public review and comments for at least two council meetings before elected officials approved it.
Labor unions didn’t like such reasonable transparency. So in 2015, they rammed through legislation — SB 331 by Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia — that provided a poison pill: Any local government with COIN ordinances would be punished with unworkable and unrelated requirements for contracting out for goods and services.
But that bill didn’t prohibit government agencies from releasing documents in response to public requests. That’s exactly what happened in Orange County in 2016 when a local blogger filed a Public Records Act request for the offers and counteroffers from ongoing negotiations with the deputy sheriffs association.
The association tried unsuccessfully in court to block release. Now AB 1455 would stop such disclosures, not just during negotiations, but forever.
When we asked Bocanegra’s spokesman what harm came from the records release in the Orange County case, he could not provide any example.
The truth is that unions and their legislative lackeys don’t want you to know what the sweetheart deals from these labor negotiations are costing you. They want to keep you in the dark.
Demand your legislators start looking out for your interests.
