A new state law that went into effect this month forces California cities, counties and other local agencies to post an inventory online of their enterprise computer systems that collect public data.
Many local governments posted these lists on their websites by the mandated July 1 due date. SB 272, the legislation signed into law in October that adds the new requirement, says that all local agencies (except schools and other local educational entities) must disclose information such as each system's vendor and product, a brief statement of the system’s purpose, and the department that serves as the system’s primary custodian.
Techwire searched the websites and open data portals of California's dozen most populous cities for their catalog of enterprise systems. We found all but the city of Los Angeles on Tuesday. They are linked directly below.
1. Los Angeles
2. San Diego
3. San Jose
4. San Francisco
5. Fresno
6. Sacramento
7. Long Beach
8. Oakland
9. Bakersfield
10. Anaheim
11. Santa Ana
12. Riverside
SB 272 was sponsored by State Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Van Nuys, and government transparency advocates.
“The goal for SB 272 is to better harness the power of locally generated data to help spur economic growth, tackle major infrastructure issues and engage millions of Californians in their communities,” Hertzberg said in an Oct. 11 statement. “Properly gathered and clearly understood, data could also help empower local agencies and encourage the agencies to work together more effectively and to intelligently allocate resources to better deliver public services.”
Supporters of SB 272 include the Sunlight Foundation, ACLU and other trade and industry groups.
For the purpose of these lists, the legislation defines an enterprise system as a "software application or computer system that collects, stores, exchanges and analyzes information that the agency uses that is both of the following: A multidepartmental system or a system that contains information collected about the public [and] a system of record." Some systems, such as security systems, access control systems and 911 dispatch, are exempted from SB 272.
Reporting from Robin Epley contributed to this story.
