SEI 700 > What, who, when, where/how?
SEI 700 > What, who, when, where/how?
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Summary
What - SEI 700 forms are statement of Economic Interest Forms. Setup like tax returns but require far more information about assets and income. System established in 1974 but instructions not on form allowed for omission of filers largest assets in a way that nullified system purposes.
Who - All civil servants who can affect their own financial interests or those or people close to them.
When - When running for office (for elected officials) and when assuming office/job, each year annually, and when leaving office/job.
Where/How - This is where it all got screwed up. Must be looked at historically first to understand what was supposed to happen via City, County, State clerk systems and what has transpired after three major events
1995 - Consolidation of Assessor-Clerk-Recorder job and no third party reviewing Assesor Clerk Recorders own filings
2000 - Consoldation of courts where county judges remained county elected but they became state employees
2000's - Poor implementation of e-filing
This has become a procedural trainwreck
WHAT are SEI 700 forms?
WHAT are SEI 700 forms?
SEI 700 forms are Statement of Economic Interest Forms. They require disclosure statments to expose potential conflicts of interest for civil servants.
They are setup like a tax return, with a cover page and schedules, but the information required is far more in depth than a tax return. Assets, income, and gifts for filers, spouses and dependents must be disclosed.
The system was created in 1974, but there is one problem that has led to many more. The people who created the system were corrupt. For example, they included instructions
"You need not disclose primary or second homes not in your jurisdiction and/or the same if there is no rental income generated".
Thus, the largest and easiest assets for corrupt powers to influence were oddly excluded from reporting. For 50 years our politicians, judges and elected officials who knew about the odd instructions "policies" and clear lack of honest oversight which can be proven with documents, may have been benefitting from many forms of econcomic benefits off the radar from constituents. That is what has given rise to this websites and a new Public Audit System. For more on this please see: https://www.california-examiner.com
WHO has to file an SEI 700 form?
WHO has to file an SEI 700 form?
They are required to be filed by all state, county, and city candidates running for elected positions (non-judges and judges).
They are also required to be filed when any state, county, city, and multi-county civil servant who was elected, appointed or hired for any key position starts their job. They are then required to filed annually by the same. They are also required to be filed when a required filer is leaving their position.
In Monterey County, the top-level filers are the 5 officials noted as "Elected County Officers" on the org chart as well as the Five Board of supervisors. They are also required by the 18 Superior Court Judges who oddly are NOT shown on the County Org chart at all.
In list form:
Assessor-Recorder-Clerk
Auditor-Controller
District Attorney
Sherriff-Coroner
Treasurer/Tax Collector
County Supervisors (5 of them)
Superior Court Judges (18 of them)
There are others as well. For example the "Assistant Assessor" must file and presumably many other assitants. Oddly, the Chief of Staff for the Supervisors do not. Who files is defined in California Statutes.
WHEN do SEI 700 forms have to be filed?
WHEN do SEI 700 forms have to be filed?
In summary -- in the Beginning --- During Service - and upon Exit
Elected Officials - (non-judges and judges) - When they file their Candidate Application packets
Elected , Appointed, and Key Employees - When they assume office and/or take their jobs, each year annually, and when they leave their office/jobs.
WHERE/HOW do SEI 700 forms have to be filed?
WHERE/HOW do SEI 700 forms have to be filed?
Wrong Question - Where/How were they filed , what's happening now and what's wrong...
Wrong Question - Where/How were they filed , what's happening now and what's wrong...
Where and how do they file is the wrong question. Where and how did they file, what happened, where and how should they be filing now, and what is actually transpiring now are the proper questions.
Prior to 1995 (prior to 1) Consolidation of Assessor-Clerk-Recorder roles 2) e-filing and 3) court consolidations)
Prior to 1995 (prior to 1) Consolidation of Assessor-Clerk-Recorder roles 2) e-filing and 3) court consolidations)
All Candidates for Office
All Candidates for office (5 elected officials, 5 elected supervisors and 18 judges would have filled out a paper form by hand or typwriter, hand signed it, and hand delivered it to the Clerk of the Election Board for review and first stamp -- and he/she would have forwarded it to the Clerk of Monterey County for review, stamp, and public posting
Elected, Appointed and Employed People (after elections)
The Five Elected officials would have filled out a paper form by hand or typewriter, hand signed it, and hand delivered it to the Clerk of Monterey County for review, stamp and public posting.
The Five Supervisors would have filled out a paper form by hand or typewriter, hand signed it, and hand delivered it to the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Monterey County for review and first stamp -- and he/she would have forwarded a copy to the Clerk of Monterey County for review, stamp, and public posting -- and he/she would have forwarded a copy to Clerk of the FPPC for review and stamp (as is required by statute for Supervisors, but oddly, not the 5 elected officials).
The 18 Judges would have filled out a paper form by hand or typewriter, hand signed it, and hand delivered it to the Clerk of Monterey County for review, stamp, and public posting. (not sure if those then went to the FPPC or not)
After 2000s (after 1) Consolidation of Assessor-Clerk-Recorder roles 2) county and state e-filing implementation and 3) court consolidations)
After 2000s (after 1) Consolidation of Assessor-Clerk-Recorder roles 2) county and state e-filing implementation and 3) court consolidations)
All Candidates for Office
All Candidates for office (5 elected officials, 5 elected supervisors and 18 judges supposedly must provide a hand signed cover sheet with a completed form (handwritten or digital input). That form that was to be hand delivered (or via email) to the Clerk of the Election Board for review and first and then forwarded for posting no has no clear handling, per confusing dialogue with the Candidate Application Processor in 2026.
non-judge - He initially indicated the filers were to file their forms with the County (via efile or paper as they wished). When asked how he confirmed the forms were on file as part of a completed application he could not answer. it was as if it was on good faith and the instructions to provide those in the application packets were incorrect He then asked someone for help (the clerk responsibile for handling applications did this) and he then changed his position stating they were provided to him -- but could not explain if/how those forms were then given to the County Clerk nor why none of the past forms were showing in the County System.
judges - He indicated the filers were to file their forms as part of their candidate application packet with a hand signed cover page. he then indicated they got packaged up and mailed to the FPPC. It sounds like they scanned applications after 2020 but prior they may have just made paper copies and archived them. There has been no copy sent to the County Clerk since court consolidation around the year 2000, because at that time the Judges became State Employees, even though they were "county elected officials". Thus nobody in the county had easy access to vetting SEI 700 forms for judges during the election process (or after) after the year 2000 and until they provide an online portal, which seems to have been in the late 2010's. (almost 20 years of non vettable SEI 700's for judges)
Elected, Appointed and Employed People (after elections)
The Five Elected officials could choose between paper filing and e-filing. Paper files were to be reviewed and then stamped but the review process seemed to fail and they didn't scan those for internet availability. E-filing seemed to result auto-stamping documents at time of submission with no review (and not stamped at time of acceptance) -- AND the Assessor was now her own reviewer as Clerk with no apparent third party oversight after the consolidation of jobs.
The Five Supervisors seemed to have jumped the shark completely. They either paper or efile directly with the County Clerk, bypassing their own Clerk of Board, who should have done first level review and stamp. If paper was filed with the County Clerk it was not scanned for easy review via the internet and it was forwarded to FPPC by mail (seemingly). However, if efile transpired, the Supervisor then was expected to make a separate e-filing with the FPPC via separate system (and thus custody of documents was lost, bifurcated filing was created and an opportunity to file different information with county and state was created) .
The 18 Judges were required to file directly with the FPPC via paper or e-file. The Clerk of Monterey County was dropped from the process completely. Seemingly nothing was easily reviewable for 15-20 years (2000 throough late 2010s when a system may have been put online).
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