To: Board of Supervisors
From: Kristin Connelly, Clerk-Recorder
Report Title: Contract Amendment with Netfile, Inc., to Provide E-Filing Services
☒Recommendation of the County Administrator ☐ Recommendation of Board Committee
RECOMMENDATIONS:
APPROVE and AUTHORIZE the Clerk-Recorder, or designee, to execute a contract amendment, effective January 1, 2024, with Netfile, Inc., to extend the term through March 31, 2027 and increase the payment limit by $175,000 to a new payment limit of $350,000 to provide electronic filing services for California Fair Political Practice Commission (FPPC) Statements of Economic Interest (Form 700) and FPPC Campaign Finance Disclosures, and AB1234 ethics training, certification, and tracking thereof.
FISCAL IMPACT:
100% General Fund. The costs of this contract are shared by the Clerk of the Board and the Clerk-Recorder Elections Division and are within the departments’ operating budgets.
BACKGROUND:
Certain elected and appointed County and Special District officials are required to file annual Statements of Economic Interest with the Clerk of the Board or with the Elections Division of the Clerk-Recorder's Office. Candidates for elective office and committees supporting or opposing ballot measures are required by the FPPC to file Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports with the Elections Division of the Clerk-Recorder's Office. These reports are required to be made public. Services provided by NetFile permit these types of reports to be submitted electronically and will make them publicly available online. In addition, County Ordinance No. 2016-05 requires the Campaign Finance Disclosure Reports to be filed electronically. NetFile provides this capability and makes the information available online in a redacted form.
California Assembly Bill 1234 requires elected officials and compensated board members to receive training on public service ethics laws and principles every two years. This amendment also incorporates Netfile’s ethics training services, to enable candidates to take FPPC ethics training as required and provide means of tracking certification of completed ethics training.
The contract includes a Special Condition limiting the Contractor’s maximum liability to the County to the total amount of fees paid by the County under this agreement in the twelve months preceding the date on which the claim accrued.
CONSEQUENCE OF NEGATIVE ACTION:
If unapproved, services for offering FPPC ethics trainings would not be incorporated into the agreement, which would require County to manually track completion or renewed certifications of ethics trainings as required by AB1234. Additionally, the Clerk of the Board and Clerk-Recorder Department’s would be unable to provide the reports online beyond the agreement’s original term and would only receive or disclose these reports in a hard copy format. Campaign Finance Disclosure documents would not be able to be filed electronically, as required by County Ordinance 2016-05.