BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 169 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 169 (Maienschein) - As Amended April 6, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Local Government |Vote:|9 - 0 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires a local agency, except a school district, that voluntarily posts a public record that is described as "open" on its Internet website to post the public record in an open format that meets all of the following requirements: AB 169 Page 2 a) Retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and electronically searchable by commonly used Internet search applications. b) Platform independent and machine readable. c) Available to the public free of charge and without any restriction that would impede the reuse or redistribution of the public record. d) Retains the data definitions and structure present when the data was compiled. FISCAL EFFECT: 1)Negligible state costs. 2)There are no reimbursable local mandate costs because any costs incurred by local agencies would fall under Proposition 42. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. This bill seeks to increase transparency and usability of government data by establishing guidelines and uniformity for local governments that choose to post "open" records on their websites. According to the author, "Making AB 169 Page 3 local government data available online using open standards will increase transparency and make operations more effective and accountable to the public. It will streamline communication between government agencies, both state and local, and vastly improve accessibility for the public. Making the information electronically searchable will also permit the public to assist in identifying efficient solutions for government, create economic opportunities and promote innovation and accountability at the local level." 2)Background. In 2009, the United States Director of the Office of Management and Budget issued an Open Government Directive to federal government agencies. This Directive provided guidelines to public agencies responding to public requests under the Freedom of Information Act and instructed federal government agencies to "publish information online in an open format that can be retrieved, downloaded, indexed, and searched by commonly used web search applications." The National League of Cities in 2014 issued a report entitled, "City Open Data Policies: Learning by Doing." According to the report, "The White House launched its Open Government Initiative in 2013, including its Data.gov website, thus beginning the process of making government data more readily available. In the wake of this federal initiative, in partnership with communities, private companies, advocates, and the technology sector, cities have begun to innovatively pursue open data. Several local jurisdictions in California have launched their own Open Data websites or portals. For example, the City of AB 169 Page 4 Los Angeles has a searchable website with information on the economy, public safety, the environment, city services, city budget, events and culture, parks and libraries, and transportation. About three months after the launch of Los Angeles' open data site, the city appointed its first Chief of Data officer. 3)Proposition 42. Proposition 42 was passed by voters on June 3, 2014, amended the state Constitution to require all local governments to comply with the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act and with any subsequent changes to those Acts. Proposition 42 also eliminated reimbursement to local agencies for costs of complying with the California Public Records Act and the Ralph M. Brown Act. 4)Related Legislation. a)AB 1215 (Ting), pending in this committee, creates the California Open Data Act and the position of Chief Data Officer, who is required to establish the California Open Data Standard (standard), requires state agencies to make public data available on an Internet Web portal pursuant to that standard, and allows a local government to adopt that standard. b)SB 272 (Hertzberg), pending in Senate Appropriations, requires local agencies, in implementing the CPRA, to create a catalog of enterprise systems, make the catalog publicly available upon request in the office of the clerk of the agency's AB 169 Page 5 legislative body, and post the catalog on the local agency's Internet Web site. c)SB 573 (Pan), pending in Senate Governmental Organization, requires the Governor to appoint a Chief Data Officer who is required to create a statewide open data portal to provide public access to data sets from agencies within the state. 1)Previous Legislation. SB 1002 (Yee) of 2012 would have required the State Chief Information Officer to conduct a study to determine the feasibility of providing electronic records in an open format. SB 1002 was vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto message he questioned the need for another legislative report. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081