The state Senate on Tuesday approved legislation that would authorize the Secretary of State to upgrade California’s campaign and lobbying database, a system one senator described as “put together with duct tape.”
Bill author Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, urged senators to support a much-needed rebuild of the antiquated online campaign and lobbying database known as Cal-Access.
“We’ve seen recently story after story of that system that’s put together with duct tape and bailing wire, so to speak, fail,” Hertzberg said.
Specifically, SB 1349 would transform the form-driven Cal-Access database into a more user-friendly and searchable “machine-readable code that is data driven,” he said.
Hertzberg’s bill would allow Secretary of State Alex Padilla to move forward with the project, bypassing mandatory processes required by the Department of Technology for large IT projects. Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, asked Hertzberg to be cautious about such an approach.
“I know there are some provisions in the bill that do address finding ways to speed up the process,” Pan said on the Senate floor. “We put processes in place to ensure that we have working programs. We’ve had too many experiences where that has not happened in the past.”
Lawmakers on the budget conference committee are currently debating how much money to set aside for the Cal-Access upgrade project.
The Senate approved the bill by a 34-0 vote.
