In 2003, The California legislature enacted SB 523 to subject certain corporations to civil penalties of up to $1 million if the corporation has knowledge of certain acts and fails to notify the Attorney General or the "appropriate government agency" and shareholders or investors. The bill's sponsor, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (now known as Consumer Watchdog), hailed the legislation as the strongest corporate accountability law in the nation.
This law, Corporations Code Section 2207, has now been in effect for the last 14 years. Therefore, it is reasonable to ask "What is it good for?". To borrow a line from Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, the answer appears to be "absolutely nothing".
Recently, I submitted Public Records Act requests to the offices of the Attorney General, the Department of Business Oversight, the Department of Insurance and Department of Managed Health Care and a Freedom of Information Act request to the Securities and Exchange Commission. In each case, I asked for copies of any notices received pursuant to Section 2207 from January 1, 2004 through the date of the request. None of these agencies could locate even a single notice.
Two heptads of nonuse would seem to be good cause for the legislature to consider repealing Section 2207.
