BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1899
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 14, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     AB 1899 (Eng) - As Amended:  March 15, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              Business and  
          Professions  Vote:                            7 - 3 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill codifies and expands the governor's executive orders  
          S-20-09 and S-08-09 by requiring state agencies, the Department  
          of General Services (DGS), and the office of the State Chief  
          Information Officer (OCIO) to post every audit and contract  
          valued at $5,000 or more dating back to January 1, 2008, to the  
          state's Reporting Government Transparency Internet Web site. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Posting all contracts dating back to January 1, 2008, would  
            require the acquisition of a new computer server costing  
            approximately $700,000 GF.

          2)Workload associated with all departments and agencies  
            gathering and posting the required contracts would cost in  
            excess of $300,000 GF.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . According to the author's office, this bill is  
            intended to mirror the governor's existing Executive Order on  
            transparency and place it in statute. The author contends,  
            "There is a need for transparency in order for Californians to  
            have a window on how the State is spending its resources and  
            conducting the people's business." 

            The author is concerned that information which is completed  
            and kept by individual departments is not readily accessible  
            to the public.  









                                                                  AB 1899
                                                                  Page  2

           2)Governor's Executive Order S-20-09  .  The executive order  
            requires that state agencies and departments post to the  
            Reporting Government Transparency web site program reviews,  
            monitoring and accountability reports, evaluations,  
            inspections, assessments and studies of their operations  
            dating back to January 1, 2008. In addition, it requires that  
            agency and department web pages provide easy access to these  
            documents.  Departments and agencies are required to post  
            future documents to the Reporting Government Transparency web  
            site within 5 working days of finalization.

           3)Governor's Executive Order S-08-09  .  This executive order  
            requires that starting June 19, 2009, DGC and the OCIO to  
            ensure that all awarded contracts valued at $5,000 or more  
            dating to March 2009, shall be placed on the Reporting  
            Government Transparency Internet Web site. 
           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081