BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION
Senator Isadore Hall, III
Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: SB 573 Hearing Date: 4/28/2015
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|Author: |Pan |
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|Version: |2/26/2015 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Felipe Lopez |
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SUBJECT: Statewide open data portal
DIGEST: This bill requires the Governor, on or before January
1, 2016, to appoint a Chief Data Officer (CDO), who would report
to the Secretary of Government Operations and require the CDO,
on or before January 1, 2017, to establish a statewide open data
portal.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Requires, under the California Public Records Act, for state
and local agencies to make their records available for public
inspection, unless an exemption from disclosure applies.
2)Declares that access to information concerning the conduct of
people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of
every person in this state.
3)Requires every public agency to comply with the California
Public Records Act and with any subsequent statutory enactment
amending the act, or enacting or amending any successor act.
This bill:
1)Requires the Governor, on or before January 1, 2016, to
appoint a CDO, who would report to the Secretary of Government
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Operations.
2)Requires the CDO, on or before January 1, 2017, in cooperation
with the Department of Technology (CalTech), to create a
statewide open data portal that is accessible to the public.
3)Requires the CDO to publish a listing of all data that may be
provided to the public, subject to any state or federal
privacy laws or regulations, including, but not limited to,
privacy provisions in the California Public Records Act and
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996.
4)Requires the CDO, after each agency assesses its data
inventory, to create a statewide open data roadmap and shall
publish the open data roadmap on the statewide open data
portal.
5)Requires the CDO, on or after June 1, 2017, to ensure that at
least 150 data sets have been published on the statewide open
data portal.
6)Specifies that the statewide open data portal shall include a
link to the Internet Web site of any agency that publishes its
data on that site, including a link to any existing open data
Internet Web site, including, but not limited to
http://bythenumbers.sco.ca.gov/ and https://chhs.data.ca.gov/ .
7)Requires the CDO to make the statewide open data portal
available, at no cost, to any city, county, city and county,
district, or other local agency interested in using the
statewide open data portal to publish its own data. Any data
published by a city, county, city and county, district, or
other local agency shall comply with all state or federal
privacy laws or regulations, including, but not limited to,
privacy provisions in the California Public Records Act and
the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996.
8)Requires the CDO, on or after January 1, 2017, and each year
thereafter, to publish a progress report for open data within
the state. The progress report shall include, but is not
limited to, an assessment of outcomes from the implementation
of this bill, innovation of the statewide open data portal,
whether there has been any cost savings as a result of the
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implementation of this bill, and an assessment of agency
collaboration.
9)Requires the CDO, on or after January 1, 2017, in consultation
with the Attorney General, to publish a set of guidelines for
use by each agency. The guidelines shall include, but are not
limited to, definitions and assessments of security, privacy,
and legal concerns related to the creation of an inventory and
publication of data.
10) Requires the CDO, on or before October 1, 2016, to
create an open data working group. The open data working
group shall consist of each agency's data coordinator, and
shall be headed by the CDO. The open data working group
shall meet at least quarterly, and shall do, but is not
limited to, all of the following:
a) Assess progress on the open data roadmap.
b) Discuss and recommend statewide policies and guidelines.
c) Share best practices across agencies.
d) Coordinate data sharing between agencies.
11) Requires each agency, on or before August 1, 2016 to
appoint a data coordinator who shall be responsible for
compliance with the provisions of this bill. The data
coordinator may appoint a data steward for each data set
the agency intends to publish.
12) Specifies that the agency may publish its inventory on
its own Internet Web site, or may utilize the statewide
open data portal. If the agency chooses to publish the
inventory on its own Internet Web site, the agency shall
include on that site a link to the statewide open data
portal site.
13) Specifies that any inventory published by an agency
shall comply with all state and federal privacy laws and
regulations, including, but not limited to, privacy
provisions in the California Public Records Act and the
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of
1996.
14) Requires an agency, on or before January, 2018, to have
published at least 10 percent of its data sets.
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15) Requires an agency, on or before January 1, 2019, to
have published at least 35 percent of its data sets.
16) Requires an agency, on or before January 1, 2020, to
have published at least 65 percent of its data sets.
17) Requires an agency, on or before January 1, 2021, to
have published at least 90 percent of its data sets.
18) Requires an agency, on or before January 1, 2022, to
have published at least 100 percent of its data sets.
19) Requires an agency to update any published data sets as
necessary.
20) Defines an "Agency" as a state agency, authority, board,
bureau, commission, council, department, division, or
office.
21) Defines a "Data set" as any information comprising
collection of information held in electronic form where all
or most of the information in the collection has been
obtained or recorded for the purpose of providing an agency
with information in connection with the provision of a
service by the agency or the carrying out of any other
function of the agency, is factual information that is not
the product of analysis of interpretation other than
calculation, and remains presented in a way that has not
been organized, adapted, or otherwise materially altered
since it was obtained or recorded.
22) Defines "inventory" as a summary listing of all
available data sets within an agency. The listing should
include, but is not limited to, a descriptive title of the
data set as well as a brief informative description of what
information may be found within the data set.
23) Defines "Open Data roadmap" as a strategic plan
describing the process by which 100 percent of the data
held by an agency will be made publicly available, subject
to any state or federal law or regulation relating to
privacy. The roadmap shall include, but is not limited to,
and agency's data inventory, a concrete timeline for the
release of data sets on a statewide or agency basis, and a
methodology for compliance with any state or federal law or
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regulation relating to privacy.
24) Defines a "Statewide open data portal" as a centralized
data Internet Web site, with the ability to display and
export data published from state agencies.
Background
Purpose of the bill: According to the author, in 2009
California launched an ambitious initiative, intending to open
up over 100 million data records, however, since then,
California has lagged behind in opening state-level datasets.
The author further argues that despite being the home of some of
the most innovative technology ideas in the world, California
has not established itself as a leader in developing a unified
open state-wide data policy. While some entities in the state
have developed independent open data projects, California still
lacks a cohesive state policy that standardizes this data and
makes it readable across multiple platforms.
The author concludes that SB 573 would improve California's goal
to be transparent and accountable, increase efficiency and
cost-savings, and foster economic development.
Open Data: Open data is the raw data generated or collected by
government agencies made freely available for use by the public,
subject only to valid privacy, confidentiality, security, and
other legal restrictions. In addition, open data is the concept
that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use
and reuse as individuals see fit without restrictions from
copyright, patents, or any other restriction mechanism. Many
governments, both statewide and locally, have been working to
ensure the data they hold is freely and easily available to the
public by embracing the concept of open data.
Most often than not, open data is collected by a government
entity at a particular Internet Web site. Such a website is
available to the public who is free to use all data without
restrictions. Most, if not all, of these open data portals are
managed by a particular individual and or agency to ensure that
the data available does not violate any state and privacy laws.
Currently 10 states have mandated statewide open data portal.
In California the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles have
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established open data portals. In addition, California
currently has the California Health and Human Services Open Data
Portal that includes open data by the California Department of
Public Health, the Office of Statewide Health Planning and
Development and the Department of Health Care Services.
Benefits of a Statewide Open Data Portal in California: A March
2015 report by the Milken Institute California Center titled,
"Open Data in California: Why the State Needs a Unified Strategy
for Public Information," stated that California could benefit
from the implementation of a statewide open data portal in three
major ways.
The first is that such a statewide open data portal would
increase government transparency. Currently, the Milken
Institute argues, when individuals, such as researchers,
journalist, or other interested parties attempt to collect
information about government expenditures, they often find vague
or outdated information about how their tax dollars are spent.
The establishment of a statewide open data portal would
encourage citizen engagement and intellectual curiosity.
Secondly, the Milken Institute argues that implementing a
statewide open data policy that requires participation by all
agencies has the potential to significantly streamline the
permitting process and reduce workloads across all agencies. In
other words, by having the data publicly available in a
centralized location, individuals would no longer be required to
call each particular agency and in turn that agency would not
need to take time to collect that data.
Finally, the Milken Institute argues that such an open data
portal would create economic development by providing huge
amounts of data to would-be entrepreneurs. California is
perfectly placed to take advantage of an open data portal due to
the tech hubs such as Silicon Valley. Entrepreneurs could
easily use data that is freely available to create the next
great program and/or app.
California Public Records Act (Act): The Act presumes that all
records held by government are accessible to the public unless
expressly made exempt from disclosure. It gives members of the
public two main rights: the right to inspect records free of
charge and the right to obtain a copy of records after paying
for the direct costs of duplication or a statutory fee. The law
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gives agencies time periods for responding to a request; once a
request is made, the agency must either produce the records in a
reasonable amount of time, as specified, or justify its decision
to withhold the record by showing that the record is exempt
under an express provision of law or that the public interest in
disclosure of the record is clearly outweighed by the public
interest in nondisclosure. There are 30 general categories of
documents or information that are exempt from disclosure,
essentially due to the character of the information. CPRA
allows a member of the public to sue to enforce the law and
provides that a prevailing plaintiff can recover attorney fees
and costs of bringing the suit.
California's Open Data Portal: Currently California has a
centralized data portal at data.ca.gov. Though CalTech has been
involved with its application since 2009, there is currently no
statutory obligation to maintain or update the web site.
According to their website data.ca.gov is designed to provide a
single source of raw data in California. Their website currently
states that it holds more than 100 million data records
available through the portal including statistics on population,
birth, death, and marriage data; education; California port
import/export data; state highway traffic data; data on vehicle
accidents, fatalities, and injuries.
Policy Considerations:
1)As previously discussed, California already has an open data
portal that seems similar to the type of statewide open data
portal that this bill is seeking to create. It would seem
duplicative to create another initiative designed to do
exactly what Data.ca.gov is already seeking to do. Therefore,
the committee may wish specify that the CDO could simply use
Data.ca.gov as a statewide open data portal rather than create
a brand new portal. Currently there is no state agency or
official that has statutory obligation to update and maintain
Data.ca.gov; this bill could establish that authority.
2) The bill currently allows an agency to publish its inventory
on its own Internet Web site rather than on the statewide open
data portal established by this bill. If the goal of this
legislation is to create a one stop central location for open
data, then it seems that allowing agencies to simply publish
its inventory on its own Internet Web site would contradict
the stated goal of the legislation. Therefore, the committee
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may wish to eliminate language in the bill that allows
agencies to publish its inventory on its own Internet Web site
without publishing that inventory in the state wide open data
portal. State agencies should be allowed to publish its own
data on its own Internet Web site, if they choose to, but that
data should also be published on the statewide open data
portal.
Suggested Amendments: The current bill has various drafting
errors and timeline problems that the author may wish to correct
in the following manner:
1)The Legislative Counsel's Digest currently states that the
bill would require the Governor, or before January 1, 2016, to
appoint a Chief Data Officer, however the actual language of
the bill states that that appointment should occur by June 1,
2016. Therefore, the author may wish to amend the bill to
correct the Legislative Counsel Digest.
2)The bill currently requires the CDO, on or after January 1,
2017, and each year thereafter, to publish a progress report
on the provisions of this bill. However the bill requires for
the statewide open data portal to be established on that same
date. Therefore the author may wish to amend the bill to
delay the publication of the first report to January 1, 2018
to ensure that the report is able to give a more thorough
update.
3)The bill currently requires that on or before January 1, 2022,
each agency shall have published at least 100 percent of its
data sets. Since there is no such thing as greater than 100
percent the author may wish to simply delete "at least."
Prior/Related Legislation
AB 1215 (Ting), 2015-2016 Legislative Session. The bill would
require the Governor to appoint a CDO and require the CDO to
work with state agencies and experts to create a California Open
Data Standard and a centralized Internet web portal for the
public to access public data from state agencies. (Pending in
Assembly Appropriations Committee)
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.: Yes Local: No
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SUPPORT:
City of Los Angeles
GROW Holdings
Health Officers Association of California
Milken Institute California Center
Sunlight Foundation
Urban Strategies Council
OPPOSITION:
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Health Officers Association of
California (HOAC) states that good data is crucial to good
public policy. A CDO in each agency would help standardize the
state's data policies across all departments, making information
more accessible to California's public health leaders. SB 573
would allow state departments to work together to recognize,
evaluate, and resolve pressing public health concerns.
The Sunlight Foundation argues that provisions envisioned by SB
573 are essential for moving open data forward at the state
level. The Sunlight Foundation further argues that this bill
emphasizes the state's capacity to serve as a platform for open
data across the state by ensuring that the state portal can host
California's open municipal, county, and district data as well,
magnifying the utility of both the portal and the local data it
hosts.