Newsom Codifies Engaged California, Approves Transit Database

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a flurry of bills relating to technology and government administration, including the Engaged California program, transit data, remote inspections and e-signatures.

Perhaps the most significant bill for state government was AB 2103 from Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, D-Thousand Oaks, which codifies the Engaged California program within the Office of Data and Innovation. The bill also gives authority to the secretary of government operations, the speaker of the Assembly and the Senate president pro tempore to select topics for Engaged California to deliberate and allows Engaged California to receive supplemental funding from partner organizations including philanthropic groups.

Many of the technology-related bills involved data centers, a controversial national topic at the moment. Some of the other bills dealt more directly with state and local government:

• AB 1599 orders the Department of Transportation to create the California Transit Stop Registry, a statewide database of transit stops.
• AB 1738 requires local governments to offer homeowners the option of remote inspections to receive building permits.
• SB 902 enables electronic signatures for the purposes of the Child Care and Development Services Act.
• SB 691 orders law enforcement agencies, including locals, to update body-worn camera policies to include a policy covering redaction in the case of videos depicting medical or psychological evaluations.
• AB 2674 requires the Air Resources Board to post data about methane emissions on its website.
• SB 1128 prohibits local educational agencies from requiring students to take home an electronic device.
• AB 2281 authorizes the Office of Elections Cybersecurity to work with academic researchers to study best practices for securing elections.

The data center package of bills was:

• AB 1577 requires data center owners or operators to report certain information to the state.
• AB 2383 imposes new electric power tariffs on data centers.
• AB 2469 mandates water impact assessments for data centers to receive permits.
• AB 2619 requires data center owners or operators to estimate water usage.
• SB 886 orders the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to adopt new electric power tariffs for data centers and take steps to prevent utility costs from being shifted onto other ratepayers.
• SB 887 formally subjects data centers to the rules of the California Environmental Quality Act.
• SB 1168 directs CPUC to study ways to ensure data centers pay a “reasonable” share of the costs they impose on the electric power system.