BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1648
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Date of Hearing: May 11, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1648 (Wilk) - As Amended March 15, 2016
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|Policy |Accountability and |Vote:|8 - 0 |
|Committee: |Administrative Review | | |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill expands the definition of "state publication" to
include publications issued by the state on the internet and
allows a member of the public to copy, share, distribute, or
republish a state publication authored by the state.
FISCAL EFFECT:
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1)Estimated one-time information technology costs of
approximately $975,000 (GF) to make the California Regulatory
Notice Register (Register) available in a web-based searchable
format. Additional ongoing IT support costs of approximately
$410,000 dollars annually (Gf), to update the codes weekly and
maintain the site.
2)On-going loss of up to $570,000 (GF) in forgone revenue from
the renegotiation or loss of the California Code of
Regulations (CCR) service contract with West Publishing
Corporation (West).
3)Unknown, but likely significant costs (GF) associated with
finding a new publisher for the CCR that is willing to provide
100 free copies to depository libraries (as required under
existing law) and that is willing to maintain the CCR on the
internet free of charge.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. This bill seeks to include publications that are
issued by the state on the internet within the definition of
"state publication." The bill would also allow any member of
the public to copy or republish this material. The author
states that, "any practice that at all limits the public's
access to public documents should not be tolerated." The
author cites specifically the current contract involving the
CCR.
2)Background. Existing law requires the Office of
Administrative Law (OAL) to provide the full text of the CCR,
including an index of links to the full text of each
regulation, and on a weekly basis, to post a copy of the
Register and links to regulations proposed by state agencies,
on its Website, free of charge. OAL may contract with another
state agency or a private entity in order to provide this
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service.
While this bill applies statewide, it raises a particular
issue with the CCR because OAL contracts with a private entity
to provide the required public access to the CCR. Based on the
copyright held by the State of California of the CCR,
compensation for the service provided by the private entity
comes from the ability of this entity to charge individuals,
businesses and others for ancillary services, including
enhanced search functions and notifications of changes or
additions to the regulations. The state expects approximately
$570,000 in 2016 from this contract.
Pursuant to the terms of the current contract, effective
January 1, 2016, West pays the state $350,000 annually, plus
8.1% royalties per year, for the privilege of publishing the
Register and CCR and providing a few related services. The
contract includes a provision specifying that if there are
changes to California law that alter the publication services
and lead to increased costs to the contractor (West), an
equitable adjustment to the compensation must be negotiated.
3)Prior Legislation:
a) AB 1612 (Donnelly) of 2014, in its original form, would
have required the OAL to provide the "greatest feasible
access" to the CCR. In its final form, it prohibited OAL
from charging users with disabilities a fee for access to
the free online CCR. The bill was vetoed by the Governor,
who stated it was unnecessary because any problems with
accessibility can be quickly corrected by the OAL.
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b) SB 1091 (Galgiani, 2014) among other provisions,
requires OAL to make the Register available in an
electronically searchable Web based format by January 1,
2017, and include the ability for interested parties to
subscribe to an email notification of the Register and
specific notices. This bill was held on the Senate
Appropriations Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081