BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1612
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 7, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 1612 (Donnelly) - As Amended: April 2, 2014
Policy Committee: Accountability
and Administrative Review Vote: 13 - 0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill requires the Office of Administrative Law (OAL) to
provide the "greatest feasible access" to the California Code of
Regulations (CCR). Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires that the OAL shall not:
a) Charge any fee to enable access to individuals with
disabilities or charge the public for accessibility options
provided under the "accessibility" link.
b) Intentionally install any device that blocks third-party
Internet search engines from accessing, indexing, or
providing foreign language translations of the CCR.
1)Declares legislative intent that the OAL make available on the
Internet the CCR in a searchable format equal to, or greater
than, the level of access to the California Codes provided by
Legislative Counsel.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)OAL does not directly charge fees for accessibility, so there
is no state impact from the prohibition on fees.
2)Should the Legislature require OAL to make the CCR available
on the Internet in searchable format at the level of access of
the California Codes, the following costs would be incurred:
a) Estimated one-time information technology costs of
approximately $975,000 (General Fund) to make the
AB 1612
Page 2
California Code of Regulation available in a web-based
searchable format. Additional ongoing IT support costs of
approximately $410,000 dollars annually (General Fund), to
update the codes weekly and maintain the site.
b) On-going loss of up to $600,000 (General Fund) in
forgone revenue from the renegotiation or loss of the
service contract with West Publishing Corporation.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author's office, this bill is
intended to require the OAL to provide a level of
accessibility to the CCR equal to the level of accessibility
to the California Codes provided by Legislative Counsel.
2)Existing Law . OAL is required to provide the full text of the
CCR, including an index of links to the full text of each
regulation, or pending regulation, on its Website, free of
charge. OAL may contract with another state agency or a
private entity in order to provide this service. Legislative
Counsel is required to make the California Codes and the
California Constitution, among other things, available to the
public in an electronic form.
3)Background . The OAL is charged with ensuring that agency
regulations are clear, necessary, legally valid, and available
to the public. OAL is responsible for reviewing administrative
regulations proposed by over 200 state regulatory agencies for
compliance with the standards set forth in California's
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), for transmitting these
regulations to the Secretary of State, and for publishing
regulations in the California Code of Regulations (CCR). OAL
oversees the publication and distribution, in print and on the
Internet, of the CCR and the Register. Existing law requires
OAL, on a weekly basis, to post a copy of the Register and
links to regulations proposed by state agencies on its
website.
4)OAL Contract . OAL contracts with a private entity to provide
the required public access to the CCR. Based on the copyright
held by the State of California of the CCR, compensation for
the service provided by the private entity comes from the
ability of this entity to charge individuals, businesses and
others for ancillary services, including enhanced search
AB 1612
Page 3
functions and notifications of changes or additions to the
regulations. The state receives approximately $600,000
annually from this contract.
This bill will likely cause OAL to renegotiate or even lose
the contract it currently has with the publisher (West
Publishing Corporation) of the CCR and the Register. Pursuant
to the terms of the current contract, West pays the state
$400,000 annually, plus 7% royalties, through the 2015
calendar year for the privilege of publishing the Register and
CCR and providing a few related services. The contract
includes a provision specifying that if there are changes to
California law that alter the publication services and lead to
increased costs to the contractor (West), an equitable
adjustment to the compensation must be negotiated.
In contrast, the State does not hold copyrights on the
California Codes or Constitution and does not limit access to
these documents. Access to the CCR is limited compared to the
accessibility of the California Codes and Constitution. It is
unlikely that a private entity would provide the level of
access to the CCR as Legislative Counsel provides for the
California Codes and Constitution because there would be no
revenue base.
5)Related Legislation . SB 1091 (Galgiani, 2014) among other
provisions, requires OAL to make the Register available in an
electronically searchable Web based format by January 1, 2017,
and include the ability for interested parties to subscribe to
an email notification of the Register and specific notices.
This bill is on the Senate Appropriations Suspense File.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081