California Legislature Passes Ban on Local Official NDAs

The California Legislature unanimously passed Senate Bill 994, which prohibits local elected officials from signing nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) that prevent them from sharing information about public business with other members of their governing body. The legislation now awaits the signature of Governor Gavin Newsom.

Christopher Cabaldon, the state senator who authored the bill, introduced the measure after Vacaville Mayor John Carli signed an NDA with Saronic Technologies. The agreement occurred while Carli was evaluating a proposed autonomous drone shipyard in Solano County. Although the Saronic project ultimately moved to Brownsville, Texas, instead of California, the incident highlighted a legal loophole regarding transparency in local government.

Mayor John Carli defended his specific agreement as being limited to proprietary information and trade secrets. Despite this, he expressed support for the general principle that NDAs should not be used to keep the public or governing bodies in the dark about public business.