AB 2225: State government: storing and recording: public records.

Existing law establishes the Department of Technology, under the supervision of the Director of Technology, to, among other things, establish and enforce state information technology strategic plans, policies, standards, and enterprise architecture.

Existing law requires the Secretary of State to approve and adopt appropriate standards established by the American National Standards Institute in order to ensure that uniform statewide standards for storing and recording permanent documents in electronic media remain current and relevant. Existing law requires those standards to include a requirement that a trusted system, as defined for purposes of these provisions and for purposes of provisions relating to the duties of county auditors, treasurers, and recorders, be utilized, and further specifies that a cloud computing storage service that complies with specified standards shall be considered a trusted system. Existing law specifies that, for purposes of those provisions, cloud computing is defined in a specified publication of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

This bill would instead require the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Department of Technology, to approve and adopt appropriate uniform statewide standards, as specified, for the purpose of storing and recording public records, described as permanent and nonpermanent documents, in electronic media or in a cloud computing storage system. The bill would require a cloud computing storage service that complies with specified requirements that provide administrative users with controls to prevent stored public records from being overwritten, deleted, or altered to be considered a trusted system, and would require all public records stored or recorded in electronic media or in a cloud computing service by a state agency to comply with a trusted system as defined in the uniform statewide standards and as otherwise specified. The bill would require a trusted system using cloud computing storage service to comply with applicable standards articulated in the State Administrative Manual and the Statewide Information Management Manual. The bill would also require a state agency, prior to establishing an information technology system interconnection or data exchange with a local government entity or otherwise partnering with a local government entity for the development, use, or maintenance of an information technology system, product, or service to first enter into a written agreement with that local government entity for the purpose of establishing mutually agreeable terms that protect relevant public records.