AB 2524: OpenJustice Data Act of 2016.

Existing law requires the Department of Justice to collect certain criminal justice data from specified persons and agencies, and to present an annual report to the Governor containing the criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year, in addition to other reports, as specified. Existing law requires the department to prepare and distribute to all those persons and agencies cards, forms, or electronic means used in reporting data to the department.

This bill would instead require the department to make available to the public information relating to criminal statistics through the departments OpenJustice Web portal, to be updated at least once per year, without requiring an increase in the frequency of reporting by local agencies. The bill would require the department to evaluate, on an annual basis, the progress of the transition from summary crime reporting to incident-based crime reporting and to report its findings to the Legislature annually through 2019. The bill would also provide legislative findings and declarations relating to the OpenJustice Web portal.

This bill would make conforming changes to related provisions concerning the interpretation and distribution of the criminal statistics, the maintenance of a specified data set, reports issued by the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, and information about homicide, hate crimes, identity theft, stolen goods, and the juvenile justice system. The bill would also make technical, nonsubstantive changes to these provisions.