BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2257
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
2257 (Maienschein)
As Amended June 22, 2016
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |77-0 |(May 23, 2016) |SENATE: |38-0 |(August 15, |
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Original Committee Reference: L. GOV.
SUMMARY: Imposes additional requirements for online postings of
agendas for the public meetings of specified local agency
legislative bodies.
The Senate amendments:
1)Specify that the provisions of this bill apply to the
legislative bodies of a city, county, city and county, special
district, school district, or political subdivision
established the state.
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2)Provide that the bill's provisions do not apply to a political
subdivision of a local agency that was established by the
legislative body of the city, county, city and county, special
district, school district, or political subdivision
established by the state.
3)Make conforming and technical changes.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Bill Summary. This bill adds several requirements to the
online posting of agendas for the public meetings of specified
local agency legislative bodies. For a meeting occurring on
and after January 1, 2019, of a legislative body of a city,
county, city and county, special district, school district, or
political subdivision established by the state (local agency)
that has an Internet Web site (website), the following
provisions shall apply:
a) An online posting of an agenda shall be posted on the
primary website homepage of a local agency that is
accessible through a prominent, direct link to the current
agenda, as specified; and,
b) An online posting of an agenda must be posted in an open
format that meets all of the following requirements:
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i) Retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and
electronically searchable by commonly used Internet
search applications;
ii) Platform independent and machine readable; and,
iii) Available to the public free of charge and without
any restriction that would impede the reuse or
redistribution of the agenda.
This bill provides an exemption from the above requirements
for a local agency that has an integrated agenda management
platform, if all of the following are met:
a) A direct link to the integrated agenda management
platform shall be posted on primary website site homepage
of the local agency, as specified. When a person clicks on
the direct link to the integrated agenda management
platform, the direct link shall take the person directly to
a website with the agendas of the local agency;
b) The integrated agenda management platform may contain
the prior agendas of a local agency for all meetings
occurring on or after January 1, 2019;
c) The current agenda of the legislative body of the local
agency shall be the first agenda available at the top of
the integrated agenda management platform; and,
d) All agendas posted in the integrated agenda management
platform shall comply with the open format requirements of
this bill.
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This bill defines "integrated agenda management platform" to
mean a website of a local agency dedicated to providing the
entirety of the agenda information for the legislative body of
the local agency to the public. The bill's provisions do not
apply to a political subdivision of a local agency that was
established by the legislative body of the local agency. This
bill is sponsored by GrassrootsLab.
1)Author's Statement. According to the author, "Under the Ralph
M. Brown Act, the legislative body of a local agency is
required to post an agenda no less than 72 hours prior to a
meeting. The agenda must be freely accessible to members of
the public, in addition to being posted on the local agency's
website, if they have one. The Ralph M. Brown Act was passed
by the legislature in 1953 to ensure transparency and openness
in local governing meetings. Since its original passage over
60 years ago, technology has changed significantly. These
advances have thus lead to many needed updates to allow for
continued and reasonable access to information by the public.
"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."
3)Proposition 42. Proposition 42 was passed by voters on June
3, 2014, and requires all local governments to comply with the
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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.
This bill contains language that says that the Legislature
finds and declares that Section 1 of the bill furthers the
purpose of the California Constitution as it relates to the
right of public access to the meetings of local public bodies
or the writings of local public officials and local agencies.
Pursuant to the California Constitution Article I Section 3,
subdivision b), paragraph 7) of the bill also includes a
finding that says that "It is in the public interest to ensure
that members of the public can easily and quickly find and
access meeting agendas on the Internet homepage of local
agencies." Section 3 of the bill specifies that no
reimbursement for local agencies to implement the bill's
provisions is necessary because "the only costs that may be
incurred by a local agency or school district?would result
from a legislative mandate that is within the scope of
paragraph 7) of subdivision b) of California Constitution
Article I Section 3."
4)Arguments in Support. GrassrootsLab, sponsor of this measure,
writes, "Agendas in cities, counties and special districts are
frequently buried on agency websites and in formats that
preempt indexing and common search techniques. While many
jurisdictions offer subscription services to residents, the
aggregate practice of online agenda posting is uneven and
undermines resident access to the business of government.
?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."
5)Arguments in Opposition. The California Special Districts
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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.
"AB 2257 (also) includes a mandate that an agenda be posted in
a particular format that is retrievable, downloadable,
indexable, electronically searchable and machine readable.
?This is an unnecessary mandate that places undue burdens on
local agencies. ?This measure mandates significant changes to
the current process without identifying a current lack of
transparency by local agencies."
Analysis Prepared by:
Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN:
0003838