BILL NUMBER: SB 272 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 17, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 6, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 25, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hertzberg
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Maienschein)
FEBRUARY 19, 2015
An act to add Section 6270.5 to the Government Code, relating to
public records.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 272, as amended, Hertzberg. The California Public Records Act:
local agencies: inventory.
Existing law, the California Public Records Act, requires state
and local agencies to make their records available for public
inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies. The act
declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the
people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every
person in this state.
This bill would require each local agency, except a local
educational agency, in implementing the California Public Records
Act, to create a catalog of enterprise systems, as defined, to make
the catalog publicly available upon request in the office of the
person or officer designated by the agency's legislative body, and to
post the catalog on the local agency's Internet Web site. The bill
would require the catalog to disclose a list of the enterprise
systems utilized by the agency, and, among other things, the current
system vendor and product. Because the bill would require local
agencies to perform additional duties, it would impose a
state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires local agencies, for the
purpose of ensuring public access to the meetings of public bodies
and the writings of public officials and agencies, to comply with a
statutory enactment that amends or enacts laws relating to public
records or open meetings and contains findings demonstrating that the
enactment furthers this purpose.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) New information technology has dramatically changed the way
people search for and expect to find information in California.
(b) This technology has unlocked great potential for government to
better serve the people it represents. A recent study estimated that
digitizing government data could generate one trillion dollars in
economic value worldwide through cost savings and improved
operational performance.
(c) California plays a vitally important role in moving our nation
forward in the world of technology. Just as the state's thriving
tech industry surges ahead in setting new standards for society, so
too must California.
(d) As several nations, states, and cities have begun to embrace
policies of online access to public sector data, they have enjoyed
the benefits of increased operational efficiency and better
collaboration. Here in California, cities across the state are
turning internally gathered and maintained data into usable
information for the public to access and leverage for the benefit of
their communities.
(e) In moving government to a more effective digital future,
standards should be adopted to ensure that data collection and
publication are standardized, including uniform definitions for
machine-readable data. Online portals should also be developed to
assist with public access to collected data.
(f) With a public sector committed to success in the digital age,
the residents and businesses of California will stand to benefit from
the greater collaboration and integration, improved accountability,
and increased productivity that will result.
(g) In making California government more accessible to the people
of the state, paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3 of
Article I of the California Constitution requires local governments
to comply with the California Public Records Act and with any
subsequent statutory enactment amending that act and furthering that
purpose.
SEC. 2. Section 6270.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:
6270.5. (a) In implementing this chapter, each local agency,
except a local educational agency, shall create a catalog of
enterprise systems. The catalog shall be made publicly available upon
request in the office of the person or officer designated by the
agency's legislative body. The catalog shall be posted in a prominent
location on the local agency's Internet Web site, if the agency has
an Internet Web site. The catalog shall disclose a list of the
enterprise systems utilized by the agency and, for each system, shall
also disclose all of the following:
(1) Current system vendor.
(2) Current system product.
(3) A brief statement of the system's purpose.
(4) A general description of categories or types of data.
(5) The department that serves as the system's primary custodian.
(6) How frequently system data is collected.
(7) How frequently system data is updated.
(b) This section shall not be interpreted to limit a person's
right to inspect public records pursuant to this chapter.
(c) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Enterprise system" means a software application or computer
system that collects, stores, exchanges, and analyzes information
that the agency uses that is both of the following:
(A) A multidepartmental system or a system that contains
information collected about the public.
(B) A system of record.
(2) "System of record" means a system that serves as an original
source of data within an agency.
(3) An enterprise system shall not include any of the following:
(A) Information technology security systems, including firewalls
and other cybersecurity systems.
(B) Physical access control systems, employee identification
management systems, video monitoring, and other physical control
systems.
(C) Infrastructure and mechanical control systems, including those
that control or manage street lights, or water or sewer functions.
(D) Systems related to 911 dispatch and operation or emergency
services.
(D)
(E) Systems that would be restricted from disclosure
pursuant to Section 6254.19.
(E)
(F) The specific records that the information
technology system collects, stores, exchanges, or analyzes.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit public
access to records held by an agency to which access is otherwise
restricted by statute or to alter the process for requesting public
records, as set forth in this chapter.
(e) The local agency shall complete and post the catalog required
by this section by July 1, 2016, and thereafter shall update the
catalog annually.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this
act, which adds Section 6270.5 to the Government Code, furthers,
within the meaning of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3
of Article I of the California Constitution, the purposes of that
constitutional section 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 paragraph (7) of
subdivision (b) of Section 3 of Article I of the California
Constitution, the Legislature makes the following findings:
Because increased information about what data is collected by
local agencies could be leveraged by the public to more efficiently
access and better use that information, the act furthers the purpose
of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district under this act would result from a legislative mandate that
is within the scope of paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 3
of Article I of the California Constitution.