Santa Clarita Assemblyman Scott Wilk’s Assembly Bill 2551, intended to increase fiscal transparency of local bond measures, passed the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments committee with a 5-0 vote on Thursday.

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“I thank my colleagues in the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments committee for their support of taxpayers having access to essential information when voting on local bond measures,” said Wilk. “AB 2551 ensures greater transparency in the tax rate statement by allowing voters to see the rationale for how these bond repayment calculations were made.”

Related: Scott Wilk Weekly Update

The Legislative Analyst’s Office has been required to disclose the fiscal impact of each statewide General Obligation Bond and the total cost of the bill to the state or local government to voters since 1997.

AB 2551 would apply these same requirements with respect to local bonds in an effort to ensure voter awareness of the complete cost of each proposed bond measure.

“With hundreds of millions of dollars of local bond debt approved every election cycle across California, voters need to be aware of how much it will cost to pay off,” said the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, an AB 2551 sponsor. “Having this information in the ballot pamphlet ensures all voters can make fiscally prudent decisions regarding long-term debt.”

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