BILL TO MAKE PUBLIC RECORDS EASIER TO SEARCH IS GUTTED IN LEGISLATURE

August 24, 2012 (Sacramento)—A bill by Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) would have made California the first state in the nation to require that public agencies provide records in searchable online formats such as Word or Excel. 

Yee introduced the bill after open government advocates complained some public records were difficult to access. Locally, people have complained that they couldn't search for keywords in a wind project's environmental impact report—a document several thousand pages long. 

But this week legislators gutted the reform measure, SB 1002, eliminating searchability requirements and calling on the State Chief Information Office to conduct a feasibility study instead.

The weakened measure has been passed by the Senate and by key Assembly committees and will next be taken up by the full Assembly.

For voting records and text of the original and amended bill, see http://www.aroundthecapitol.com/Bills/SB_1002/20112012/  

For arguments for and against the measure, see