BILL ANALYSIS APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE FISCAL SUMMARY AB 206 (Hertzberg) Hearing Date: 7/21/97 Amended: 6/2/97 Consultant: Ed Derman Policy Vote: G.O. 9-0 ___________________________________________________________________ BILL SUMMARY: AB 206 requires each state agency to make available on its Internet web site by 7/1/98, or within 6 months of establishing such a site, a form through which a person could register complaints or comments about the agency or about a person licensed by the agency. The complaint form would either be mailed or filed electronically, depending on the method for filing complaints the state agency established. The agency also would, to the extent feasible, provide specific information on filing complaints to a person calling to lodge a complaint. Fiscal Impact (in thousands) Major Provisions 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 Fund Complaint form Probably not substantial total statewide costSpecial/General development and processing STAFF COMMENTS: Based on discussions with a staff from a variety of state agencies which probably receive most of the citizen complaints or comments concerning an agency or its licensees, it appears that each state agency would incur relatively minor, largely one-time costs to program the complaint or comment form onto its web site, and some additional, probably minor costs to process the additional complaints or comments that the increased availability of the form would generate. DMV indicates, for example, that this bill is consistent with its current plans to put complaint forms on its web site. Consumer Affairs, on the other hand, estimates that it would incur costs of about $55,000 annually, for programming the form and processing additional complaints. According to that department, based on its current experience, it would anticipate that a number of complaints would concern individuals not licensed by any of its boards and bureaus, and these complaints or comments would be forwarded to another agency for processing. In addition, because of the added expense of establishing an electronic means to submit complaint or comment forms, it is likely that most agencies would post forms on their web sites for downloading by citizens, who would have to mail them to the agency.