SACRAMENTO, CA – Senator Melissa Hurtado (D-Bakersfield) recently introduced a legislative package focusing on tackling corruption as Californians face added cost pressures and looming deficit. Corruption is plaguing critical sectors of our economy, as well as adding to our deficit. Efforts to tackle deficits without addressing corruption will fail on arrival to protect the security of our economy and democracy.

“Corruption is not some remote concept that exists in a faraway land. Corruption and abuses are on the rise not just abroad, but also here at home. Bad actors are employing both new and traditional schemes to eliminate competition, manipulate markets, drive up inflation, as well as influence our policies and politics,” said Senator Melissa Hurtado. “Californian families are hurting from the effects, and as the fourth largest economy in the world we need a strategy on countering corruption, with this legislative package representing a comprehensive attempt to address this growing problem.”

California’s Strategy on Tackling Corruption

SB 1151: the Foreign Influence Transparency and Accountability Act (FITA Act), requires any person acting as a foreign agent within the state of California to disclose their affiliations to any foreign principle. SB 1151 also requires the Secretary of State to include a statement on filing forms to educate any person acting as a foreign agent about the requirements under the United States Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA).

SB 1153: the Preserving Competition in Agricultural Land Act addresses the rampant farmland purchasing by private equity firms and hedge funds driving up the speculative prices of available farming land through acquisition practices that may be in violation of federal anti-trust laws.

SB 1154: the Protecting Competition and Inflation Reduction Act addresses the impact of emerging markets on the state’s economy through regular reports and oversight hearings by the Legislature to propose solutions that safeguard consumers, protect intellectual property, support small businesses while ensuring data security.

SB 1155: the Modernizing the Prohibition on Insider Trading for Government Executives Act, updates lobbying restrictions to include executive members of state agencies, proposing a one-year cooling-off period for executive members of state agencies before they can engage in lobbying activities. Prohibits the use of public source information for financial gain or the creation of a market that will result in monetary gain.

SB 1156: the Economic Disclosure for Water Agencies Act in response to groundwater market expansions, the bill promotes transparency, addresses conflicts of interests, while ensuring accountability by requiring members of a water board’s executive and board of directors to disclose any economic or financial interests that may influence decision-making related to groundwater management.

SB 1157: the Human Trafficking Prevention and Anti Money Laundering Act seeks to hold every state contractor accountable for sub-contracting work that could result in human trafficking and money laundering using state dollars.

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