Transparency is supposedly coming to the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency. At least that’s the goal of legislation signed Wednesday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The legislation was sponsored by state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-Roseville, who represents the California side of Lake Tahoe.

SB593 requires each California member of the TRPA to comply with the requirements of the Political Reform Act and to file with the Fair Political Practices Commission a statement of economic interests.

“I was surprised to learn that there was no existing state law mandating these disclosure requirements. This opened the potential for California members of the TRPA to make decisions in which they had a conflict of interest and left the public with no way of knowing,” Gaines said in a statement. “Because of SB593, these members will now have to file the same conflict disclosure form required of every other elected and appointed official in the state. They will be held to the same high standards when it comes to disclosure and maintaining the public’s utmost trust.”

— Lake Tahoe News staff report