BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1612
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Date of Hearing: April 30, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON ACCOUNTABILITY AND ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
Jim Frazier, Chair
AB 1612 (Donnelly) - As Amended: April 2, 2014
SUBJECT : State government: regulations
SUMMARY : Requires the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to
provide the "greatest feasible access" to the California Code of
Regulations (CCR). The OAL shall not:
1)Charge any fee to enable access to individuals with
disabilities.
2)Charge the public for accessibility options provided under the
"accessibility" link, as specified.
3)Intentionally install any device that blocks third-party
Internet search engines from accessing, indexing, or providing
foreign language translations of the CCR.
Additionally, this bill declares Legislative intent that the OAL
makes available on the Internet the CCR in a searchable format
that is equal to, or greater than, the level of access to the
California Codes provided by Legislative Counsel.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the OAL to provide on its Internet Web site, free of
charge, the full text of the CCR including an index of links
to the full text of each regulation, or pending regulation,
filed with the Secretary of State. OAL may contract with
another state agency or a private entity in order to provide
this service.
2)Requires Legislative Counsel to make the California Codes and
the California Constitution, among other things, available to
the public in an electronic form.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown
COMMENTS : According to the author's office, this bill will
require the OAL to provide a level of accessibility to the CCR
equal to the level of accessibility to the California Codes
AB 1612
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provided by Legislative Counsel.
Currently, OAL has no information technology staff and contracts
with a private entity to provide the statutorily required public
access. Compensation for the service provided by the private
entity comes from the ability of this entity to charge
individuals, businesses and others for additional services
(including enhanced search functions and notifications of
changes or additions in regulations) based upon the copyright
held by the State of California of the CCR. According to OAL,
the State receives approximately $600,000 annually from this
contract.
In comparison, the State does not hold copyrights on the
California Codes or Constitution and therefore does not charge
or limit public access to these documents. Although OAL
provides public access to the CCR, this accessibility is far
less and substantially limited compared to the accessibility to
the California Codes and Constitution provided by Legislative
Counsel. If the State wishes to achieve the same level of
public access to the CCR as it currently has with the California
Codes and Constitution, the State would have to forgo any
benefits accrued from contracting this service to an outside
entity.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
California Council of the Blind
National Federation of Independent Business
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : William Herms / A. & A.R. / (916)
319-3600