BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1055
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 4, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                   SB 1055 (Ashburn) - As Amended:  August 2, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                             Public  
          SafetyVote:7-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the State Chief Information Officer (SCIO) to  
          conduct criminal background checks on specified employees,  
          contractors, volunteers or vendors whose duties include working  
          on data center, telecommunication, or network operations,  
          engineering, or security or would include access to confidential  
          or sensitive information. Specifically, this bill:   

          1)Requires that fingerprints and associated information gathered  
            by the SCIO be forwarded to the Department of Justice (DOJ)  
            for criminal background checks, as specified. 

          2)Requires requests for federal criminal offender record  
            information be forwarded to the FBI. 

          3)Authorizes DOJ to charge a fee sufficient to cover its costs. 

          4)Provides that if an applicant is rejected as a result of  
            information contained in the DOJ or FBI criminal offender  
            record information response, the individual shall receive a  
            copy of the response record from the SCIO.

          5)Requires the SCIO to develop a written appeal process for an  
            applicant determined ineligible due to DOJ or FBI criminal  
            offender record information. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Minor GF costs to the SCIO for criminal background checks. The  
            SCIO estimates first-year costs of about $100,000, and ongoing  
            costs of about $50,000, which the SCIO contends is absorbable.








                                                                  SB 1055
                                                                  Page  2


          2)Negligible costs to DOJ, which will charge the SCIO for DOJ's  
            costs.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale.  This bill requires the SCIO to fingerprint and  
            conduct background checks on employees, contractors,  
            volunteers, and vendors who have access to confidential or  
            sensitive information. The SCIO estimates this authorization  
            will be applied to about 400 individuals.  

            According to the author, "This measure does not create any new  
            background check authority that does not currently exist  
            within the separate departments and agencies. SB 1055 merely  
            consolidates that authority for use in the centralized state  
            data centers."

           2)Current law  provides that criminal offender record information  
            shall be disseminated, directly or through an intermediary,  
            only to such agencies authorized access by statute. DOJ  
            maintains summary criminal offender record information and  
            furnishes information regarding applicants, to specified  
            organizations.  DOJ, which is generally authorized to charge a  
            fee to cover related expenses, is responsible for the security  
            of criminal offender record information.  



           Analysis Prepared by  :    Geoff Long / APPR. / (916) 319-2081