Bill > SB644

This bill establishes a state policy for open data, meaning that government information, which is factual and regularly created or maintained by a government entity, should be machine-readable and made publicly available in ways that are easy to find, access, and use, often through online portals. To oversee this, it creates a Council on Open Data, composed of various state secretaries, agency directors, legislative representatives, judicial branch representatives, and appointees from local entities and the private sector, tasked with promoting the open data policy by providing guidance, recommending best practices for data sharing while considering privacy and security, coordinating data efforts across state agencies, identifying funding needs, encouraging local and other branches of government to adopt open data practices, establishing a plan for free public access to all open data, advocating for good record management, and making recommendations on state purchases of data processing equipment and software to ensure they comply with open data policies and are compatible with existing technology. The bill also mandates that state entities use purchasing guidelines to enhance the accessibility, storage, and transfer of open data when acquiring new data processing devices or systems, and it specifies the staggered initial terms for certain council members.