Amended in Senate June 9, 2016

Amended in Senate June 1, 2016

Amended in Assembly May 5, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 22, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 6, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 884

Introduced by Assembly Member Gordon

(Principal coauthor: Senator Wolk)

February 26, 2015

An act to amend Section 10248 of, and to repeal and add Section 9026.5 of, the Government Code, relating to the Legislature, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 884, as amended, Gordon. Legislature: legislative proceeding: audiovisual recordings.

Existing law prohibits a television signal generated by the Assembly from being used for any political or commercial purpose, including, but not limited to, any campaign for elective public office or any campaign supporting or opposing a ballot proposition submitted to the electors. Existing law provides that a person or organization who violates this prohibition is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Existing law requires the Legislative Counsel, with the advice of the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on Rules, to make certain information available to the public in electronic form, including, among other things, the text of each bill introduced in each current legislative session, including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of each bill. begin insert Existing law provides that no actions taken pursuant to these requirements alter or relinquish any copyright or other proprietary interest or entitlement of the State of California in the end insert begin insert information made available to the public. end insert

This bill would repeal the prohibition against using Assembly-generated television signals for political or commercial purposes. The bill would require the Legislature to cause audiovisual recordings to be made of all open and public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the begin delete standing end delete committees thereof begin insert , as specified end insert . The bill would require those recordings to be posted on the Internet by the Legislative Counsel within one business day after the proceeding being recorded has been recessed or adjourned for the day. The bill would require a begin delete posted end delete recording begin insert posted on the Internet end insert to be retrievable in a perceivable format for the duration of the biennial session in which the recording is made and the begin delete biennial session end delete begin insert two biennial sessions end insert immediately following. The bill would require the Legislative Counsel to preserve and secure these recordings in an electronic form and store them in an archive begin insert in a retrievable and perceivable format end insert for not less than 20 years. The bill would also authorize the televised or other audiovisual recordings of the public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the begin delete standing end delete committees thereof to be used begin delete for any lawful purpose and end delete begin insert by the public end insert without the imposition of any fee due to the State or any public agency or public corporation thereof.

begin insert

The bill would recast the provisions relating to state copyright and proprietary interests in information made publicly available by the Legislative Counsel and would instead provide that the information made available to the public, as specified, is within the public domain.

end insert

This bill would specify that it is contingent upon voter approval of a specified constitutional amendment at the November 8, 2016, statewide general election.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 9026.5 of the Government Code is
repealed.

SEC. 2.  

Section 9026.5 is added to the Government Code, to
read:

9026.5.  

(a) (1) Commencing on begin delete January 1 of the second
calendar year after this section is operative, end delete begin insert January 1, 2018, end insert the
Legislature shall begin delete cause audiovisual recordings to be made of all
open and public proceedings of each house of the Legislature and
the standing committees thereof. end delete begin insert do all of the following with respect
to its open and public proceedings: end insert

begin insert

(A) Cause audiovisual recordings to be made of all floor
sessions of each house of the Legislature, the committee
proceedings thereof at which a vote is taken or other action is
recorded, and the committee proceedings thereof held in the State
Capitol Building regardless of whether a vote is taken or an action
is recorded.

end insert begin insert

(B) Make reasonable efforts to cause audiovisual recordings
to be made of all committee proceedings held outside of the State
Capitol Building at which no vote is taken and no action is
recorded.

end insert begin insert

(C) Make reasonable efforts to broadcast to the public, in real
time, all proceedings of the Legislature and the committees thereof
that are held in the State Capitol Building.

end insert

(2) The Legislative Counsel shall post all recordings made
pursuant to subdivision (a) on the Internet within one business day
after the proceeding being recording has been recessed or adjourned
for the day. begin delete Posted recordings end delete begin insert Recordings posted on the Internet end insert
shall be retrievable in a perceivable format for public use for the
duration of both the biennial session of the Legislature in which
the recording is made and the begin delete biennial session end delete begin insert two biennial sessions end insert
immediately following.

(3) The Legislative Counsel shall preserve and secure all
recordings made pursuant to subdivision (a) in an electronic form
and store them in an archive begin insert in a ret end insert begin insert rievable and perceivable
format end insert for not less than 20 years. Archived recordings shall be
reasonably available for use by the begin delete public in the medium in which
the recording was originally made. end delete begin insert public end insert begin insert . end insert

(b) Televised or other audiovisual recordings of the public
proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the standing
committees thereof may be used begin delete for any lawful purpose and end delete begin insert by
the public end insert without the imposition of any fee due to the state or any
public agency or public corporation thereof.

SEC. 3.  

Section 10248 of the Government Code is amended
to read:

10248.  

(a) The Legislative Counsel shall, with the advice of
the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on
Rules, make all of the following information available to the public
in electronic form:

(1) The legislative calendar, the schedule of legislative
committee hearings, a list of matters pending on the floors of both
houses of the Legislature, and a list of the committees of the
Legislature and their members.

(2) The text of each bill introduced in each current legislative
session, including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of
each bill.

(3) The bill history of each bill introduced and amended in each
current legislative session.

(4) The bill status of each bill introduced and amended in each
current legislative session.

(5) All bill analyses prepared by legislative committees in
connection with each bill in each current legislative session.

(6) All audiovisual recordings of legislative proceedings that
begin delete have been caused to be made by the Legislature end delete begin insert are required to
be posted end insert in accordance with paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) of
Section 9026.5.

(7) All vote information concerning each bill in each current
legislative session.

(8) Any veto message concerning a bill in each current
legislative session.

(9) The California Codes.

(10) The California Constitution.

(11) All statutes enacted on or after January 1, 1993.

(b) The information identified in subdivision (a) shall be made
available to the public by means of access by way of the largest
nonproprietary, nonprofit cooperative public computer network.
The information shall be made available in one or more formats
and by one or more means in order to provide the greatest feasible
access to the general public in this state. Any person who accesses
the information may access all or any part of the information. The
information may also be made available by any other means of
access that would facilitate public access to the information. The
information that is maintained in the legislative information system
that is operated and maintained by the Legislative Counsel shall
be made available in the shortest feasible time after the information
is available in the information system. The information that is not
maintained in the information system shall be made available in
the shortest feasible time after it is available to the Legislative
Counsel.

(c) Any documentation that describes the electronic digital
formats of the information identified in subdivision (a) and is
available to the public shall be made available by means of access
by way of the computer network specified in subdivision (b).

(d)  Personal information concerning a person who accesses the
information may be maintained only for the purpose of providing
service to the person.

(e) No fee or other charge may be imposed by the Legislative
Counsel as a condition of accessing the information that is
accessible by way of the computer network specified in subdivision
(b).

(f) The electronic public access provided by way of the computer
network specified in subdivision (b) shall be in addition to other
electronic or print distribution of the information.

begin delete

(g) No action taken pursuant to this section shall be deemed to
alter or relinquish any copyright or other proprietary interest or
entitlement of the State of California relating to any of the
information made available pursuant to this section.

end delete begin insert

(g) The information made available to the public pursuant to
this section is within the public domain.

end insert

SEC. 4.  

This act shall become operative only if Senate
Constitutional Amendment No. 14 of the 2015-16 Regular Session
is approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide
general election.

SEC. 5.  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

Because of the importance of ensuring public access to all
legislative proceedings, it is necessary that this bill take effect
immediately.