Three bills introduced in Sacramento could make this year a pivotal one for open data.
The Sunlight Foundation reports, “SB 272 asks California’s local governments to create public enterprise catalogs that list all of the datasets they maintain — a goal close to Sunlight’s heart. Increasing public awareness of what datasets are held by local governments represents a critical step toward unlocking the power of local data across the state.
“We’ve been watching the potential that California’s legislature will increase the availability of local open data, as aided by the power of 2014’s Proposition 42, and this bill would represent an excellent start to that process. The bill mandates collection and publication of, among other things, “a brief statement of the system [of record]’s purpose;" "a general description of categories, modules, or layers of data;" "the department that serves as the system’s primary custodian;" "how frequently system data is collected;" and "how frequently system data is updated.” You can follow progress on SB 272 via Sunlight's Open States tool here.
“AB 169 would also offer a useful addition to local government data management practice, increasing the accessibility of local open data by providing a useful definition of what “open” really means for municipalities that want to join the open data movement. The legislation would require that any relevant data posted online by California be made available in forms that were “retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and electronically searchable by commonly used Internet search applications;" "platform independent and machine readable;" "available to the public free of charge and without any restriction that would impede the reuse or redistribution of the public record;" and will also ensure that information released "retain[s] the data definitions and structure present when the data was compiled, if applicable.” You can follow progress on AB 169 via Open States here.
“While those bills are both critical for freeing more local California open data, AB 1215 will be essential for moving open data forward at the state level. The bill enshrines the provision of open data as an essential state function by establishing a state chief data officer. It requires state agencies to post data to a central open data portal and to develop and publish an inventory of their public data. Helpfully, the bill digs into the question of which data to release first in high-quality public form by prioritizing the publication of agency datasets based on clear value to the public, including for the goals of increasing the accountability and responsiveness of agencies, improving the public’s knowledge of the state agency and its operations, creating economic opportunity and responding to online and offline public demand.
“You can follow progress on AB 1215 via Open States here.