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