BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin Murray, Chairman
2927 (Leno)
Hearing Date: 8/17/06 Amended: 8/14/06
Consultant: Nora Lynn Policy Vote: Judiciary 5-0
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BILL SUMMARY:
AB 2927 authorizes any person whose written request for a public
record from a state agency or local agency was denied to request
the Attorney General (AG) to issue a written decision on the
denial within 20 working days. AB 2927 further requires, by
January 1, 2008, any state agency with a website to post
information about how to access public records from that agency
pursuant to the California Public Records Act as well as a form
for submitting such requests online, and, effective January 1,
2008, authorizes any person to bring an action to enforce a
state agency's duty to post such information. Last, AB 2927
requires the Department of Justice to convene an advisory task
force with specified membership and make recommendations to the
Governor and Legislature pertaining to public records disclosure
issues by July 1, 2007.
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Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 Fund
Attorney General review$606 $1,212 $1,212 General
Website updates Likely absorbable costsVarious
Task Force Minor, absorbable costs General
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STAFF COMMENTS: This bill meets the criteria to be placed on the
Suspense file.
Attorney General staff estimates that, including state agencies,
boards, commissions, and more than 530 county and city entities,
AB 2927 gives that office public records oversight over an
estimated 7,000 governmental entities in California. If each of
these entities were to generate one denial of request for a
public record per year, the resulting workload would be 135
cases per week. While it is unknown how many public records
requests will be denied and, of these denials, how many persons
will seek written opinions from the AG as a result of AB 2927's
provisions, AG staff projects a need for 5 deputy attorney
general staff and accompanying secretarial support at an annual
cost of approximately $1.2 million to ensure the office will be
able to comply with the bill's requirements and timelines.
Costs for DOJ to convene the required advisory task force and
report to the Governor and Legislature should be minor and
absorbable.
AB 2927 further specifies how state agencies with websites are
to display information about accessing public records online by
January 1, 2008. DGS estimates costs for state agencies to
comply with these requirements by the date required should be
absorbable within most state agencies' existing resources.