HOUSE BILL REPORT

HB 2202

This analysis was prepared by non-partisan legislative staff for the use of legislative members in their deliberations. This analysis is not a part of the legislation nor does it constitute a statement of legislative intent.

As Reported by House Committee On:

Government Operations & Elections

Title: An act relating to the establishment of an open data policy to facilitate sharing and publication of government data.

Brief Description: Concerning the establishment of an open data policy to facilitate sharing and publication of government data.

Sponsors: Representatives Carlyle, Pollet, Bergquist, Hudgins and Riccelli.

Brief History:

Committee Activity:

Government Operations & Elections: 1/24/14, 1/31/14 [DPS].

Brief Summary of Substitute Bill

  • Requires the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) to coordinate implementation and expansion of an Open Data Portal for publication of government data maintained by, or on behalf of, executive branch state agencies.

  • Requires state executive branch agencies to designate a data coordinator and prepare a data catalog and compliance plans for making all public data sets available online.

  • Requires the OCIO to develop technical standards to facilitate publication of digital data in the public domain or otherwise free of restrictions on reuse, so that it can be used and implemented by anyone.

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS & ELECTIONS

Majority Report: The substitute bill be substituted therefor and the substitute bill do pass. Signed by 9 members: Representatives S. Hunt, Chair; Bergquist, Vice Chair; Young, Assistant Ranking Minority Member; Carlyle, Christian, Manweller, Orwall, Robinson and Van De Wege.

Minority Report: Do not pass. Signed by 1 member: Representative Taylor, Ranking Minority Member.

Staff: Jasmine Vasavada (786-7301).

Background:

In 1972 the voters in the state of Washington adopted Initiative 276, requiring that most records maintained by state, county, city governments, and all special purpose districts be made available to members of the public. These provisions, now codified in chapter 42.56 RCW, are known as the Public Records Act (PRA). The PRA applies to all state and local agencies and defines a "public record" broadly to include, among other things, "any writing containing information relating to the conduct of government or the performance of any governmental or proprietary function prepared, owned, used, or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics." Many PRA exemptions exist, targeted to protect from disclosure certain information, the nondisclosure of which the Legislature has deemed important for the protection of interests such as personal privacy, confidentiality, security, law enforcement and investigative functions, and commercial competition. State law also establishes procedures by which public agencies preserve, store, transfer, manage, retain, destroy, or dispose of public records. The Division of Archives and Records Management in the Office of the Secretary of State is tasked with managing, centralizing, and making available to the public various archival public records.

In 2011 the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) was created within the Office of Financial Management. The OCIO is responsible for the preparation and implementation of a strategic information technology plan and enterprise architecture for the state, as well as the development of statewide data security standards. The OCIO must establish standards and policies for enterprise architecture, educate and inform the state on information technology matters, and work to achieve standardization and consolidation of information technology infrastructure.

In May 2013, President Obama issued an executive order "making open and machine-readable the new default for government information." The executive order required the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation with the Chief Information Officer and others, to issue an Open Data Policy to advance the management of government information as an asset.

State agencies in Washington post public data sets online via a number of different web portals. For example, in addition to data.wa.gov, separate government websites host data and reports from the Education Research and Data Center, state geospatial information, the Caseload Forecast Council, the Legislative Evaluation and Accountability Program Committee, and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. However, there is currently no requirement ensuring that the data is presented in open, machine-readable formats, or ensuring that data be standardized in a manner that would facilitate the combination of information from different data sources.

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Summary of Substitute Bill:

Open Data Portal.

The Chief Information Officer shall coordinate implementation and expansion of an Open Data Portal to facilitate the sharing and publication of government data in an open format. Public data sets made available on the open data portal should be offered as open data in an open format and free of cost, wherever feasible, consistent with standards and policies developed by the OCIO. "Open" means freely available, machine readable, and formatted according to uniform technical standards to facilitate visibility and reuse of publishable data. "Open format" means "a published, free file format for storing digital data, where such format is in the public domain or otherwise free of restrictions on reuse, and can be used and implemented by anyone."

The requirement to post government information on the Portal does not apply to all government records, but instead is limited as follows:

Duties of the OCIO.

The OCIO shall:

Duties of Executive Branch Agencies.

Each agency shall:

Data Problems, Data Changes, and Legal Policies.

The OCIO must ensure the Portal includes the following features:

Effect on Local Governments and Other Branches of State Government.

The new requirements do not apply to local governments or outside of the executive branch of state government. However, local governments and other branches of state government are encouraged to prepare a catalog and timeline for publication of local government data and to submit the data to the OCIO for inclusion in the Open Data Portal, and the OCIO is authorized to provide them technical guidance, assistance, and expertise.

Other.

A reference to a 1996 policy task force report is removed. A pilot project for electronic access to public records is decodified, due to the project being time-delimited.

Substitute Bill Compared to Original Bill:

Substitute House Bill 2202 makes changes in the following areas, as compared to the original bill.

Definitions.

The substitute bill:

Open Data Portal.

The substitute bill:

Participation by Local Governments and Other Branches of State Government.

The substitute bill:

Timelines and Compliance.

The substitute bill:

Policies and Technical Guidance.

The substitute bill:

Changes to Data.

The substitute bill:

Other.

The substitute bill:

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Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Requested on January 24, 2014.

Effective Date of Substitute Bill: The bill takes effect 90 days after adjournment of the session in which the bill is passed.

Staff Summary of Public Testimony:

(In support) This is not just a technology bill. It is about making data usable. When you look at transit information, applications on mobile devices to see when a bus is coming, so many uses are really about managing data. President Obama issued an executive order to create an Open Data policy, and the website is called data.gov, and its about making information usable. Washington State has been a leader, and we have a state portal called data.wa.gov. What is exciting is that this bill creates a default that data should be open and transparent, and with common standards, internal agency uses of data will become more effective. There is a macro-trend across the country, for which Washington is and should be a leader. In jurisdictions that have embraced this structure, there is a dramatic decline in Freedom of Information Act requests because members of the public are better able to find the information they need. This directs the Chief Information Officer to create a framework of a policy that will allow us to organize the public's data in a much more responsible way. It is permissive, in the sense that agencies have authority to manage their compliance in a way that makes sense for their operation. The data covered by this bill is a great deal of the core data you see in charts and graphs. This may be the foundation of a new approach to e-government and efficient service delivery in a way that will not only save the public money but will make the information come alive.

Washington is one of the most transparent states in the nation; we value openness and we believe its important for good government. This bill is in line with those values. It is also in line with a trend where governments all over the world are changing the default to ensure that data is available in an open, accessible, and findable format. This bill holds agencies accountable to publishing data in a clear way, and is very clear about what data should be published. This bill is also an opportunity for the government to make our data open and easy to access, in a way that will have a positive economic impact. It has sparked opportunity for entrepreneurs to use the data in ways we cannot even imagine. Open data and the applications and services it fuels are already making a difference. In Seattle you can look up business licenses, parks, new development in your neighborhood—it helps people make important decisions in their lives. At the state level, open data will be critical to Results Washington. This policy will shape the openness, transparency, and accessibility of the people's data. The OCIO has worked closely with the Office of Financial Management to survey agencies to craft a meaningful fiscal note, but this bill is primarily a swap between ensuring that data is operational only to one agency and ensuring that the data is the people's data, available to all. This will make state government more effective.

You can see on the Seattle Police Department website information about 911 calls, police reports duly redacted under the Public Disclosure Act. In Washington, D.C., a private individual created an app called "Stumble Safely" that, based on your geographic information system data and the time and day of week, advises you on the incidence of crime on a given route. Here in Washington, there is an app that pulls up thousands of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs stocked with fish, species and images, and recommends the best time to fish. Much of the underlying data came from the state, but it would be a lot easier to create these applications if the data were online in an open format. New York City has an open data law or ordinance that is similar to this one and they have published their data sets online. San Francisco and Oakland also publish their data sets. This meshes well with the Governor's policy goals for the Results Washington website, to make more data sets be open and transparent and available on data.wa.gov.

This bill will be critical to reducing our long-term costs in the public records arena. Disclosure will not be as much of a problem as it has been in the past 10 years, during which time the rates of public requests have accelerated. Quality of information will improve, and questions of what is redactable will be addressed at the front-end and not each time a request comes in, so the costs of compliance with the PRA will go down. The reason courts are not included is that they have decided that they are not a state agency, and they created a separate commission to govern the release of court records. It is important that you can see conflicting data sets and the public can reconcile them on their own, instead of asking government to reconcile and seek truth. The legal policy in this bill is that "we don't know, and you can't hold us accountable." But the public is able to see the truths and the mistakes made by agencies, and hold the government accountable. It does not change any exemptions under the PRA.

(Neutral) When two agencies have conflicting data, it is often a question of whether data is being described accurately. Time and time again, the description of the data is too simplified and the "devil is in the details". Sometimes the data may be correct on the chart that the agency has provided, but subsequent characterizations are inaccurate. Agencies make a constant effort.

(With concerns) Higher education institutions support the intent and philosophy of this bill, because we have seen the benefits of providing open data and what it can do for the public. Washington has already created a nationally-recognized higher education dashboard. Applications like "One Bus Away" helps thousands of people get to work on time through the King County metro and transit systems. Some concerns that need to be addressed are potential costs and narrowing the "open data set" definition so that we will not have to convert data sets to open format and subsequently publish those. The definition in the bill goes beyond routine agency practice and open data sets that are already provided to the public by higher education agencies.

(Opposed) None.

Persons Testifying: (In support) Representative Carlyle, prime sponsor; Michael Cockrill and Bill Schrier, Office of the Chief Information Officer; and Rowland Thompson, Allied Daily Newspapers.

(Neutral) Katie Blinn, Office of the Secretary of State.

(With concerns) Margaret Shepherd, Council of Presidents.

Persons Signed In To Testify But Not Testifying: None.