Local agency officials: training.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific details on enforcement mechanisms or cost estimates, leaving some aspects open to interpretation.

Training Requirements for Local Agency Officials

This law expands ethics and financial training requirements for local agency officials, including department heads, and sets rules for how the training is provided.

What This Bill Does

• Expands ethics training to include more types of local agency officials, such as department heads, starting in January 2026.
• Requires new officials to complete their first ethics training within six months instead of one year after they start working.
• Adds a requirement for at least two hours of financial and fiscal training every two years for all local agency officials.
• Allows local agencies or groups of agencies to work with outside providers to offer training courses or self-study materials that meet the new requirements.
• Requires local agencies to post clear instructions on their websites about how to request training records.

Who It Names or Affects

• Local agency officials, including department heads and other administrative officers
• Providers of training courses for local government finance

Terms To Know

ethics training

Training that teaches local agency officials about rules they must follow to be fair and honest in their work.

fiscal and financial training

Training that helps local agency officials understand how to manage money and budgets properly.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify the exact content of the ethics or fiscal and financial training.
• Local agencies will need to follow new rules about providing training, but details on how this will be enforced are unclear.
• There may be costs for local agencies to comply with these new requirements.

Official Summary Text

SB 827, Gonzalez.
Local agency officials: training.
Existing law imposes ethics training on specified local agency officials. Existing law requires each training to be 2 hours and requires the officials to receive each training every 2 years, and as described otherwise, with the first training within one year of commencing service. Existing law requires the local agency to maintain records of the trainings, as prescribed.
This bill would expand which local agency officials are required to complete the above-described ethics training to include department heads, or other similar administrative officers, as specified, and would instead require officials who commence service on or after January 1, 2026, to receive their initial training within 6 months of commencing service. The bill would
require the local agency to post clear instructions and contact information for requesting the training records on its internet website, as specified.
This bill would additionally require all local agency officials, as defined, to receive at least 2 hours of fiscal and financial training, as described. The bill would require the training to be received at least once every 2 years, as provided. The bill would exempt from these requirements specified local agency officials if they are in compliance with existing education requirements specific to their positions.
This bill would authorize a local agency or an association of local agencies to contract with or otherwise collaborate with a provider of a training course to offer one
or more training courses, or sets of self-study materials with tests, to its local agency officials to meet the training requirement, as described. The bill would require the training courses and materials to be developed in consultation with experts in local government finance, as specified. The bill would require providers of training courses to provide participants with proof of participation for purposes of complying with specified recordkeeping requirements. The bill would require a local agency to provide information on training available at least once annually. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter
of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF