Anti-Nepotism Bill Sparked By LAist Investigation Moves Forward In State Senate

Topline:

An anti-nepotism bill that's making its way through the California legislature cleared a hurdle this week when it passed the Senate Committee on Local Government in a 6 to 0 vote.

About the bill: Senate Bill 1111 would "expressly forbid state and local officials from voting on public contracts that benefit their adult children, spouse, parents, siblings, in-laws, or other relatives."

Why now: State Sen. Dave Min of Irvine, the bill's author, cited LAist's investigation into how COVID-19 relief dollars were spent in Orange County as a motivation for the bill. "It is simply outrageous that public officials are able to award lucrative government contracts to their own family members without violation of the law," he said in a statement. "That ends under SB 1111."

The context: Since late last year, LAist's Nick Gerda has been investigating millions of taxpayer funds directed to a nonprofit run off and on by an Orange County supervisor's daughter. LAist's reporting to date includes:

• Nov. 22: O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do was involved in directing $3.1 million to a mental health center where his 22 year-old daughter, Rhiannon Do, was president.
• Dec. 18: Records show missing audits for $4 million in taxpayer funding earmarked to provide meals for seniors and people with disabilities.
• Jan. 22: County records show Do directed an additional $6.2 million in taxpayer dollars to his daughter’s group without publicly disclosing the family ties.
• Feb. 16: O.C. officials say millions in funding were unaccounted for by the group and warned it could be forced to repay the funds.
• March : O.C. officials say they are scrambling to understand what’s happening at the county-funded nonprofit after layoffs were announced and then rescinded. The nonprofit misses a deadline to provide proof about how funding for meals were spent.
• April : Rhiannon Do tells LAist that she never held high-level positions at the nonprofit, despite public records listing her in top roles. An attorney for the group attributed the paper trail showing otherwise to “sloppiness” and negligence.

Read LAist's full investigative series ▶

What's next on legislation: SB 1111 has been re-referred to the Committee on Elections and Constitutional Amendments and the next hearing set for April 22.

Also under consideration: A similar bill has been introduced in the State Assembly by another Orange County official, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva.

Assembly Bill 3130 would require “a member of the board of supervisors to disclose a known family relationship with an officer or employee of a nonprofit entity before the board of supervisors appropriates money to that nonprofit entity.”