BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2152
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Date of Hearing: May 14, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
AB 2152 (Levine) - As Amended: May 7, 2014
Policy Committee: Higher
EducationVote:12-1
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill places limits and conditions on public postsecondary
institutions' contracts with federal intelligence agencies.
Specifically, this bill:
1) Requires the University of California (UC), the
California State University (CSU), and the California
Community Colleges (CCC), and any campus or research
institution managed by or affiliated with one of these
segments, prior to entering into a contract with a federal
intelligence agency, to determine whether the contract
would involve analysis or processing of personally
identifiable information, as defined. If so, the contract
must require the federal agency to disclose whether the
information was collected with knowledge of the individuals
to whom it pertains.
2) Requires a contract per (1) to be approved in an open
public meeting of the institution's governing board and to
disclose the type of research and information sought by the
federal intelligence agency if the contract would do any of
four specified activities involving analysis or processing
of personal information or the conduct of personal
surveillance activities.
3) Requires each institution to annually disclose the
number of contracts where a federal intelligence agency
sponsoring the contract limits or restricts the publication
of research.
4) Prohibits an institution from entering into a contract
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with a federal intelligence agency that imposes limits or
restricts the publication of research if the contract
involves analysis or processing of personally identifiable
information collected without the individuals' knowledge.
FISCAL EFFECT
UC indicates that its Grants and Contracts Offices, which
negotiate and finalize research grant agreements, would incur
increased costs to the extent they would have to provide an
additional layer of review to the sizable number of contracts UC
routinely enters into with federal intelligence agencies.
Specifically, UC believes the requirement to approve in a public
meeting contracts that would either (a) potentially assist in
the analytical processing of personally identifiable information
of individuals, or (b) assist in the conduct of surveillance
activities performed by, or on behalf of, a federal intelligence
agency "would necessitate reasonably sophisticated analysis and
exercise of judgment." These additional costs cannot be readily
quantified, but could potentially be absorbable within the
operations of each UC campus.
COMMENTS
1) Purpose . According to the author, federal intelligence
agencies, who often contract with higher education
institutions for technical and advanced research, engage in
bulk metadata collection practices that violate fundamental
privacy expectations. Given the nature of intelligence
activities, it is difficult to know the extent to which any
institution in California is engaged in research that may
assist the surveillance activities of a federal
intelligence agency. Intelligence research that assists in
federal surveillance has proved to push the limits on
constitutional privacy protections. This bill is intended
to address the obscure and undisclosed nature of
intelligence agency sponsored contracts.
UC, in support of academic freedom and faculty publishing
rights, refuses to perform classified research on campuses.
UC's policy does, however, allow for exceptions to be made in
cases involving national security interest. The authority to
approve such exceptions rests with the UC President. The
author is awaiting a response from UC to his request for
information regarding the extent that UC participates in
research contracts utilizing personally identifiable
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information.
2) Related Legislation . SB 828 (Lieu and Anderson), pending
in Senate Public Safety, prohibits the state from assisting
any federal agency attempting the unconstitutional
collection of electronic data of any person, without
consent and not based on a warrant.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081