The group was formed in August as a way for the state to marshal those in the public and private sectors to guide the state’s efforts in using blockchain, which is essentially an open-source ledger that tracks transactions. The group, created in 2018 under a bill by Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, has been charged with researching and cataloguing the technology’s potential uses, risks and benefits to the state government and the private sector and to deliver a report to the Legislature by July 1.
The new survey, issued last week, calls for input from members of the working group on four key areas:
- Their perspective and expectations for the working group
- Blockchain definitions and potential overarching challenges and opportunities
- Suggestions and criteria for appropriate application areas for blockchain and examples of how it might be used
- The process that the working group will follow in “refining the decision-making process and tactics for engagement”
The survey also boldly lays out the importance of blockchain in the state’s goal of maintaining California’s primacy in the tech industry.
“Government and technology companies operate along different timelines,” the document notes. “California needs to continue to be an innovation hub.”
To that end, the state should “use regulations and policy to promote a technology-friendly environment,” citing the examples of Wyoming and Ohio as “blockchain-friendly,” while noting that Illinois failed to pass legislation to support blockchain.
“California is a leader in emerging technology,” the survey notes. “We should maintain this position for blockchain applications and regulation as well.”
The section of the document that directly addresses blockchain in the context of California state government lays out 10 key points that group members are asked to address:
- Developing technical standards
- Ethical considerations
- Education and outreach
- Potential areas of friction (Help state government employees identify areas of friction and fragmentation)
- Lack of trust in the data and potential problems for its immutability
- “Privacy considerations: As personal records become increasingly digitized, how do we maintain an acceptable level of privacy and balance innovation and public protection? How might blockchain intersect with requirements of CCPA [California Consumer Privacy Act],” which takes effect in January?
- The cost of implementing and running blockchain, including financial considerations and energy consumption.
- Overall process of adopting new technology
- Security and risk
- The role of the federal government and other state governments
- The politics of change
- “Countering the dark side of blockchain”
And looking to the future, the survey cites some relatively common examples of where blockchain is already in use by state and local governments outside California — property titles, vehicle registration and property registration — and describes some potential uses that could affect everyday life: health-care delivery and and health insurance data; criminal justice record-keeping; and uniformly tracking components of the state’s world-class agriculture industry, including the heavily regulated cannabis market.
When the working group's report is delivered to the Legislature in July, it will include “consensus” findings as well as any dissenting opinions.
Members of the working group, and their areas of contribution, are identified on the last page of the report.
