BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 435
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Date of Hearing: April 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
435 (Chang) - As Amended March 18, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY: This bill requires the California Environmental
Protection Agency (CalEPA) and the California Natural Resources
Agency (Resources) to web cast all public meetings and workshops
and provide for public participation. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires each department, board, and commission of Resources,
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and each department, board, and office of the CalEPA to
provide these web casts, as defined.
2)Requires the web casts to include a method for viewers or
listeners to participate remotely.
3)Requires recordings of web casts to be archived for future
viewings.
4)Excludes conservancies and the California Science Center from
web cast requirements.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time costs of approximately $250,000 (GF) to upgrade or
acquire webcasting equipment and software for the CalEPA
headquarters building in Sacramento to enable webcasting of
all public meetings and all workshops conducted at any CalEPA
or any board, department, and office of CalEPA throughout the
state, with ongoing equipment and software maintenance costs
of $38,000 (GF) annually.
2)On-going costs or approximately $176,000 (GF) annually for two
additional Television Specialist positions at Cal EPA
headquarters to staff the expanded webcast services.
3)Unknown, but likely major costs, for CalEPA boards,
department, or offices and Resources departments and
commissions to equip remote locations with audio-video
capabilities or contract for the necessary services.
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4)On-going costs of approximately $150,000 (GF) annually for one
Information Systems Analyst position at Resources to staff the
archiving services.
5)One-time minor costs, approximately $15,000 (GF), for
Resources to acquire and maintain equipment necessary for
shelf storage archiving. The bill does not specify for how
long the recordings must be kept and whether or not they must
be available online. Costs will vary depending on these
factors.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, this bill will increase
transparency and allow for greater public participation.
"Individuals throughout the state have a direct interest in
these policies created by state agencies but few have the
geographic advantage of being close enough to attend meetings
and provide direct input," the author stated. "While these
meetings may be open to the public, it is unrealistic to
expect that the average Californian will be able to put their
life on hold to attend and voice their concerns or ideas."
2)Agency Web Casts. Currently, both CalEPA and Resources offer
web casts of public meetings and some allow for remote
participation. However, not all public meetings or workshops
of CalEPA and Resources are provided in this manner. Both
agencies indicate they support the concept of offering web
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casts to encourage public participation, but doing so for all
meeting and workshop locations could be difficult because of
resource and technology challenges. They note that some
capabilities to create web casts and allow for participation
at remote agency sites could be made available from an
agency's headquarters, with additional equipment and resources
at both the headquarters and the remote site. However, these
services cannot necessarily be made available for meetings
held at non-agency sites, such as a library or community
center. The bill does not distinguish between these
situations, and costs will vary greatly depending on the reach
of the bill.
3)Archiving. This bill also requires Resources and CalEPA to
archive the recordings of web casts to allow for public
viewing. However, the bill does not specify how long each web
cast must be retained and whether or not it must be available
online or stored in some other manner. Both of these issues
affect the cost of archiving and need to be clarified.
4)Prior Legislation. AB 1723 (Fuentes), Chapter 580, Statutes
of 2012, requires California Community Colleges, California
State University and the Student Aid Commission, and requests
that the University of California provide live video and audio
transmission of all open meetings through widely available
technology like television or web casts.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
AB 435
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