BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2746
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Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2746
(Obernolte) - As Amended March 28, 2016
SUBJECT: Public Utilities Commission: contracts: electronic
submissions
SUMMARY: Requires the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) to adopt procedures authorizing the submission of
electronic signatures and documents by all parties on contracts
involving the CPUC.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "electronic signature" to mean an electronic sound,
symbol, or process attached to or logically associated with an
electronic record and executed or adopted by a person with the
intent to sign the electronic record. (Code of Civil
Procedures Section 17)
2)Authorizes the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act, which does
the following:
a) Generally applies to electronic transactions, but does
not apply to the creation and execution of wills and
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testamentary trusts, and does not apply to certain other
transactions.
b) Provides that a record or signature may not be denied
legal effect or enforceability solely because it is in
electronic form.
c) Provides that a contract may not be denied legal effect
or enforceability solely because an electronic record was
used in its formation.
d) Provides that if a law requires a record to be in
writing, or if a law requires a signature, an electronic
record satisfies the law.
e) Authorizes the provision of written information by
electronic record.
f) Sets forth provisions governing changes and errors, the
effect of electronic signatures, and admissibility in
evidence. (Civil Code Section 1633.1 et seq.)
3)The Corporate Securities Law of 1968 authorizes the
Commissioner of Business Oversight to prescribe circumstances
under which to accept electronic records or electronic
signatures. (Corporations Code Section 25620)
4)Allows a declaration in support of the warrant of probable
cause for arrest to be signed with an electronic signature.
(Penal Code Section 817)
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5)Provides that an electronic signature by a court or judicial
officer would be as effective as an original signature. (Code
of Civil Procedure Section 17)
6)Authorizes the clerk of a county board of equalization to
accept electronically filed applications for a changed
assessment containing an authenticated electronic signature,
as provided, if that application meets certain criteria.
(Revenue and Taxation Code Section 1603)
7)Authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to allow a person
to submit any document required to be submitted to the
department electronically if the signature is also submitted
electronically and the department retains information
verifying the identity of the person submitting the electronic
signature. (Vehicle Code Section 1801.1)
8)Authorizes the Commissioner of Corporations to prescribe
circumstances under which to accept electronic records or
electronic signatures. (Corporations Code Section 17.1)
9)Allows an oath to be made using, in addition, a telephone and
computer server, and allows the affiant's signature to be in
the form of an electronic signature and allow the magistrate
to sign a warrant using a digital signature or electronic
signature if electronic mail or computer server is used.
(Penal Code Section 1526)
10)Permits a county retirement board to include a provision for
the use and acceptance of electronic signatures, as specified,
within the regulations. (Government Code Section 31527)
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown.
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COMMENTS:
1)Background: The CPUC contracts with consultants when it does
not have the resources to provide required services. State
agencies generally rely on the Department of General Services
(DGS) State Contracting Manual when soliciting or entering
into a contract to provide services. Statutory authority for
the competitive and non-competitive procurement of information
and non-information technology goods and services for state
government resides within DGS. The CPUC has stated in internal
procedure documents that it uses the state's contracting
process for all contracts it develops or manages.
The DGS State Contracting Manual requires contracts to have
original handwritten signatures. At the CPUC, contracts often
involve numerous signatories in a various locations. Getting
handwritten signatures from all of these individuals requires
contract documents to be mailed to each party. According to
the author's office, this process is inefficient and difficult
to track, costly, and creates opportunities for the documents
to become misplace in the process in which case the process
would start over.
2) The Beautiful History of Electronic Signatures: Existing law
clearly validates the use of electronic signatures in most if
not all public and private organization transactions. The
Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (SB 820 (Sher), Chapter
428, Statutes of 1999) provides that a record or signature may
not be denied legal effect or enforceability solely because it
is in electronic form. Nevertheless, many laws have passed
since 1999 clarifying the validity of electronic signatures in
various code sections. Many of these laws are cited under the
Existing Law above. There appears to be no reason the CPUC
should need to use handwritten signatures to validate
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contracts. This bill clarifies the CPUC's ability to use
electronic signatures in contracting and requires the CPUC to
adopt procedures authorizing the submission of electronic
signatures and documents by all parties on contracts involving
the CPUC.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by:Darion Johnston/ U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
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