BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2257
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Date of Hearing: May 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2257 (Maienschein) - As Amended April 25, 2016
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|Policy |Local Government |Vote:|8 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY: This bill, beginning January 1, 2019, adds
requirements for online posting of a local agency's public
meeting agendas, if the local agency has a website.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires an agenda to be posted on the local agency's primary
website homepage accessible through a prominent, direct link
to the current agenda.
2)Prohibits the direct link to the agenda from being in a
contextual menu.
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3)Requires the agenda to be posted in an open format that meets
all of the following requirements:
a) Retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and electronically
searchable by commonly used Internet search applications;
b) Platform independent and machine readable; and,
c) Available to the public free of charge and without any
restriction that would impede the reuse or redistribution
of the agenda.
4)Exempts a local agency that has an integrated agenda
management platform, as defined, from complying with (1) above
if a direct link to the integrated agenda management platform
is posted on the local agency's primary website homepage, and
other conditions are met.
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. (See Comment #5 below.)
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COMMENTS:
1)Author's Statement. According to the author, "This
legislation addresses two key deficiencies in current law;
format and accessibility of online postings. Posting an
agenda can mean many different things with respect to
visibility and accessibility of the document. Many agendas
are buried in agency websites or otherwise not intuitively
navigable by a site visitor. Formatting may restrict the
capacity for citizens to search for, or access, agenda
information?AB 2257 will update the Ralph M. Brown Act by
ensuring that meeting agendas are posted in a consistent,
visible location on the homepage of the local agency's
internet website. It specifies that it must be a prominent,
direct link to the agenda and prevents the link being buried.
Importantly, this bill also specifies that agendas be posted
in a machine-readable format, meaning the documents can be
indexed and searched by commonly used search engines and other
tools."
2)Background. The Ralph M. Brown Act was passed by the
legislature in 1953 to ensure transparency and openness in
local government meetings. The Brown Act requires the
meetings of local governments' legislative bodies to be "open
and public," thereby ensuring people's access to information
so they may retain control over the public agencies that serve
them. The Brown Act requires a local agency to post an agenda
for a regular meeting of its legislative body at least 72
hours before the meeting in a location that is freely
accessible to members of the public. Since its original
passage, technology has changed significantly.
3)Arguments in Support. GrassrootsLab, sponsor of this measure,
writes, "The agencies subject to the proposed legislation
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provide critical services to California residents, from public
safety to transportation, water management and many others.
Their decisions impact their constituents, who deserve ready
access to their scheduled meetings and matters at hand.
"Placing the agendas on an (agency's) homepage requires no
additional records be created and is a logical, intuitive
place for residents to find the document. Requiring machine
readability of the document is even more vital, as it will
ensure the agendas are indexed by search engines and readable
through a wide array of tools used in modern communication."
4)Arguments in Opposition. The California Special Districts
Association, in opposition, writes, "The requirements of AB
2257 micro-manage local agencies' website development and
strip their local control by dictating specifically where each
local agency posts its board and committee agendas. Many of
our districts have made significant investments in developing
the best design, layout, and functionality of their websites
to best serve the needs of their constituents?The primary role
of special districts is to provide services to the public. As
such, our websites are typically designed to ensure the ease
of access to those services.
5)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.
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6)Prior Legislation.
a) AB 169 (Maienschein), Chapter 737, Statutes of 2015,
requires local agencies to use specified open data
standards if they maintain an Internet Resource that is
described or titled as "open data" and if they choose to
post public records on that Internet Resource.
b) SB 272 (Hertzberg), Chapter 795, Statutes of 2015,
requires cities, counties, special districts, and joint
powers authorities, by July 2016, to create a catalogue of
their enterprise systems and make it available to the
public, including on the agency's website.
c) AB 1344 (Feuer and Alejo), Chapter 692, Statutes of
2011, requires (among other things) the legislative body of
a local agency to post the agenda for a regular meeting at
least 72 hours in advance on the local agency's website, if
the local agency has a website.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081
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