Bill > HB781

Introduced Session

Virginia Open Data Initiative Act. Creates the Virginia Open Data Initiative Act to increase public awareness of and access to the data created by and available from state agencies. The bill provides for appointment by the Governor of a Chief Data Officer to maintain the official website of the Commonwealth of Virginia as a dedicated open data website. The bill requires the Chief Data Officer to oversee the establishment of procedures, standards, and best practices regarding the appropriate access and presentation of open data and datasets by each agency, including the development of a dataset format standard and ensuring that the datasets are accessible in a nonproprietary, machine-readable format that is compliant with state and federal law. The bill also provides for the Chief Data Officer to submit by December 31, 2019, a written report to the Governor and the General Assembly consisting of (i) the progress made on the implementation of the provisions of the bill, (ii) the effectiveness in providing open data and datasets to the public and among agencies, and (iii) the feasibility of expanding the open data initiative to the legislative and judicial branches of government.

Committee Categories

Mark Keam (D)*, 

Stricken from docket by Science and Technology (22-Y 0-N) (on 02/05/2018)

Official Document