BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



              APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE FISCAL SUMMARY

                                         SB 143 (Kopp)

Hearing Date: 1/26/98                                 Amended:  
1/20/98         
                             
Consultant:  Maureen Brooks              Policy Vote: Judiciary  
7-0             
___________________________________________________________________ 

BILL SUMMARY:  SB 143 requires state and local agencies to provide  
copies of electronic public records in the form requested, if  
reasonable to do so.  The agencies may charge a fee to cover the  
direct costs of duplication or a statutory fee.  If the records  
are requested for commercial purposes, agencies may collect fees  
to cover the actual cost of providing the record including costs  
for search, retrieval, review segregation and duplication.   
Nonprofit corporations and news media are excluded from the  
definition of commercial use.

This bill requires a public records request to have been made in  
writing before court proceedings to contest a denial may be  
instituted.

SB 143 declares that an elected official is included in the  
definition of  "member of the public" as it pertains to having  
access to public records of state and local agencies.

SB 143 consolidates numerous exemptions for specified records from  
the Public Records Act which are now contained in various code  
sections.

                         Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
  
Major Provisions               1998-99       1999-00        2000-2001   Fund  

Local reimbursement           
-------------------unknown-------------------------General

STAFF COMMENTS:  

SB 143 allows local agencies to request reimbursement from the  
State Mandates Claims Fund for expenses associated with providing  
electronic copies of records to members of the public other than  
those recovered by fees allowed under this bill.  These costs are  










not identifiable due to the unknown volume of requests to be  
processed, but are expected to be less than $150,000.

SB 143 is the result of meetings held by the Task Force on  
Electronic Access to Public Records, which was organized by the  
Senate Select Committee on Procurement, Expenditures and  
Information Technology.

This bill is similar to SB 74 (Kopp) which was vetoed by the  
Governor last year.