Local agency officials: training.

Senator Gonzalez, with coauthors Senator Arreguín and Assembly Member Ransom, advances a measure that broadens ethics training for local government officials and adds a distinct, mandatory fiscal and financial training regime, all framed as statewide governance improvements. The core change centers on creating a formal, two-hour minimum of fiscal and financial training for all local agency officials, paired with an expanded ethics-training framework that now covers department heads and other comparable administrative officers.

Under the ethics-training framework, the measure expands who must receive training to include department heads or similar administrative officers, in addition to elected officials and designated employees. It also tightens initial training timelines: for officials commencing service on or after January 1, 2026, the initial ethics training must be completed within six months of starting service, with ongoing training required at least every two years. Officials serving multiple local agencies satisfy the biennial requirement once every two years, with proof of participation shared across the agencies served. The measure also requires public recordkeeping of ethics trainings, including dates and the training entity, retained for at least five years and made accessible under the Public Records Act, with local agencies posting instructions for records requests starting mid-2026.

The bill adds a new article dedicated to fiscal and financial training. It defines fiscal and financial training as covering budgeting, financial administration, debt management, pension and postemployment benefits, cash management, investments, and related procurement and safeguarding of resources, among other elements. All local agency officials would be required to complete at least two hours of such training, with courses or self-study materials available through contracts with providers or associations. Training may be delivered in person or online and must be developed in consultation with recognized local government finance experts; providers must furnish proof of participation, and agencies must share information about available training at least annually. Deadlines differ for current officials in office as of 2026 and those commencing service on or after that date: existing officials must complete the fiscal/financial training by January 1, 2028 and thereafter on a biennial cycle, while new entrants must complete within six months of starting and then on a biennial cycle. Exemptions apply for officials already subject to certain existing ethics-education requirements. Public records obligations and website posting requirements mirror those for ethics training, with five-year retention and posting starting July 1, 2026.

The measure also situates these changes within a statewide framework, asserting that local fiscal management constitutes a matter of statewide concern and establishing a potential state-mandated local cost reimbursement process if the state mandates costs on local agencies. It preserves existing ethics-and-education structures while layering in the new fiscal/financial training, and it contemplates a phased implementation with explicit dates for initial compliance, ongoing cadence, and public-access obligations. Stakeholders include local agencies, elected and appointed officials, training providers, and local government associations, all of whom would navigate new recordkeeping, posting, and verification obligations as part of the broader governance and transparency agenda.