Amended in Senate June 30, 2016

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 BillNo. 884


Introduced by Assembly Member Gordon

(Principal coauthor: Senator Wolk)

February 26, 2015


An act tobegin delete amend Section 10248 of,end deletebegin insert add Section 10248.5 to,end insert and to repealbegin delete and addend delete 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: legislativebegin delete proceeding: audiovisual recordings.end deletebegin insert informationend insertbegin insert: public useend insertbegin insert.end insert

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.

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This bill would repeal these provisions.

end insert

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. 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 information made available to the public.

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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 committees thereof, as specified. 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 recording posted on the Internet to be retrievable in a perceivable format for the duration of the biennial session in which the recording is made and the two biennial sessions 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 in a retrievable and perceivable format 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 committees thereof to be used by the public without the imposition of any fee due to the State or any public agency or public corporation thereof.

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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.

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

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This bill would place the information that the Legislative Counsel makes available to the public pursuant to these provisions within the public domain and would provide that the State of California retains no copyright or other proprietary interest in that information.

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

Vote: 23. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

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

P3    1

SECTION 1.  

Section 9026.5 of the Government Code is
2repealed.

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3

SEC. 2.  

Section 9026.5 is added to the Government Code, to
4read:

5

9026.5.  

(a) (1) Commencing on January 1, 2018, the
6Legislature shall do all of the following with respect to its open
7and public proceedings:

8(A) Cause audiovisual recordings to be made of all floor sessions
9of each house of the Legislature, the committee proceedings thereof
10at which a vote is taken or other action is recorded, and the
11committee proceedings thereof held in the State Capitol Building
12regardless of whether a vote is taken or an action is recorded.

13(B) Make reasonable efforts to cause audiovisual recordings to
14be made of all committee proceedings held outside of the State
15 Capitol Building at which no vote is taken and no action is
16recorded.

17(C) Make reasonable efforts to broadcast to the public, in real
18time, all proceedings of the Legislature and the committees thereof
19that are held in the State Capitol Building.

20(2) The Legislative Counsel shall post all recordings made
21pursuant to subdivision (a) on the Internet within one business day
22after the proceeding being recording has been recessed or adjourned
23for the day. Recordings posted on the Internet shall be retrievable
24in a perceivable format for public use for the duration of both the
25biennial session of the Legislature in which the recording is made
26and the two biennial sessions immediately following.

27(3) The Legislative Counsel shall preserve and secure all
28recordings made pursuant to subdivision (a) in an electronic form
29and store them in an archive in a retrievable and perceivable format
30for not less than 20 years. Archived recordings shall be reasonably
31available for use by the public.

32(b) Televised or other audiovisual recordings of the public
33proceedings of each house of the Legislature and the standing
P4    1committees thereof may be used by the public without the
2imposition of any fee due to the state or any public agency or public
3corporation thereof.

4

SEC. 3.  

Section 10248 of the Government Code is amended
5to read:

6

10248.  

(a) The Legislative Counsel shall, with the advice of
7the Assembly Committee on Rules and the Senate Committee on
8Rules, make all of the following information available to the public
9in electronic form:

10(1) The legislative calendar, the schedule of legislative
11committee hearings, a list of matters pending on the floors of both
12houses of the Legislature, and a list of the committees of the
13Legislature and their members.

14(2) The text of each bill introduced in each current legislative
15session, including each amended, enrolled, and chaptered form of
16each bill.

17(3) The bill history of each bill introduced and amended in each
18current legislative session.

19(4) The bill status of each bill introduced and amended in each
20current legislative session.

21(5) All bill analyses prepared by legislative committees in
22connection with each bill in each current legislative session.

23(6) All audiovisual recordings of legislative proceedings that
24are required to be posted in accordance with paragraph (2) of
25subdivision (a) of Section 9026.5.

26(7) All vote information concerning each bill in each current
27legislative session.

28(8) Any veto message concerning a bill in each current
29legislative session.

30(9) The California Codes.

31(10) The California Constitution.

32(11) All statutes enacted on or after January 1, 1993.

33(b) The information identified in subdivision (a) shall be made
34available to the public by means of access by way of the largest
35nonproprietary, nonprofit cooperative public computer network.
36The information shall be made available in one or more formats
37and by one or more means in order to provide the greatest feasible
38access to the general public in this state. Any person who accesses
39the information may access all or any part of the information. The
40information may also be made available by any other means of
P5    1access that would facilitate public access to the information. The
2information that is maintained in the legislative information system
3that is operated and maintained by the Legislative Counsel shall
4be made available in the shortest feasible time after the information
5is available in the information system. The information that is not
6maintained in the information system shall be made available in
7the shortest feasible time after it is available to the Legislative
8Counsel.

9(c) Any documentation that describes the electronic digital
10formats of the information identified in subdivision (a) and is
11available to the public shall be made available by means of access
12by way of the computer network specified in subdivision (b).

13(d)  Personal information concerning a person who accesses the
14information may be maintained only for the purpose of providing
15service to the person.

16(e) No fee or other charge may be imposed by the Legislative
17Counsel as a condition of accessing the information that is
18accessible by way of the computer network specified in subdivision
19(b).

20(f) The electronic public access provided by way of the computer
21network specified in subdivision (b) shall be in addition to other
22electronic or print distribution of the information.

23(g) The information made available to the public pursuant to
24this section is within the public domain.

25

SEC. 4.  

This act shall become operative only if Senate
26Constitutional Amendment No. 14 of the 2015-16 Regular Session
27is approved by the voters at the November 8, 2016, statewide
28general election.

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29begin insert

begin insertSEC. end insertbegin insert2.end insert  

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begin insertSection 10248.5 is added to the end insertbegin insertGovernment Codeend insertbegin insert, to
30read:end insert

begin insert
31

begin insert10248.5.end insert  

Notwithstanding subdivision (g) of Section 10248,
32the information that the Legislative Counsel makes available to
33the public pursuant to Section 10248 is within the public domain
34and the State of California retains no copyright or other
35proprietary interest in that information.

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36

begin deleteSEC. 5.end delete
37
begin insertSEC. 3.end insert  

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the
38immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within
39the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into
40immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

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P6    1Because of the importance of ensuring public access to all
2legislative proceedings, it is necessary that this bill take effect
3immediately.

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4
Because of the importance of ensuring, without unnecessary and
5undue delay, public access to and use of Assembly-generated
6television signals and legislative information that the Legislative
7Counsel makes available in electronic form, it is necessary that
8this bill take effect immediately.

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