Here's where things stand after hearings and votes on Monday and Tuesday:
- A bill that would create an online link between college enrollment and voter registration moved forward. Under the bill, the California Community Colleges and the CSU system would be required to implement the bill's provisions for electronic voter registration, while the UC system would be encouraged to participate. Assemblymember David Chiu, the author of AB 2455, says the bill is intended to address declining voter turnout among young people. The bill was moved to a Senate floor vote.
- Legislation that would require state agencies to report their annual spending on cybersecurity advanced out of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is going to a Senate floor vote. The proponents of AB 2623 (Assemblymembers Rich Gordon and Jacqui Irwin) say the data would enable the Legislature to provide additional oversight on the issue.
- Legislation is headed to the governor that would allow candidates for local nonpartisan elected office to prepare a written candidate's statement for electronic distribution. AB 2010 from Assemblymember Sebastian Ridley-Thomas notes that this e-government measure would post these candidates' statements on the website of the local elections official. The bill's proponents say some local bodies, depending on the size of the city or county, charge candidates thousands of dollars or more (to offset printing and mailing costs) for a brief 200-word candidate's statement included in a paper-based voter's pamphlet.
- A bill that would allot $2.2 million to each of the 10 University of California campuses in order to expand entrepreneurial resources and help startups get off the ground was placed on the suspense file for further consideration. The legislation was a collaboration of the UC system and the Brown administration, said the bill's author, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin.
- AB 1755, the "Open and Transparent Water Data Act" from Assemblymember Bill Dodd, was moved to the suspense file. It would require development of a statewide water information system, present the data on a public website and develop open data protocols. Its proponents say such a system would help make the state's water transfer market more efficient. The Senate Appropriations Committee moved the bill to the suspense file. A representative of Bay Area Council said, because of California's access to Silicon Valley, "there's no excuse to have anything less than a world-class data system for its water supply." The Department of Finance is estimating one-time costs of as much as $3.8 million to implement the new system.
- Legislation that would require Caltrans to keep an inventory and centralized database of the broadband conduits it owns that are located on state highway rights-of-way was placed on the suspense file. The bill, AB 1549, from Assemblymember Jim Wood, would help close the digital divide and help broadband companies and consortia avoid "digging twice" to lay down fiber after a construction project is completed, Wood told the Senate Appropriations Committee this week. Wood said he disagrees with a Department of Finance finding that the bill would be unlikely to increase broadband access and added that he is "tired of waiting" for this data.
