SB 573 would give California a Chief Data Officer and a path to a transparent state government

SB 573, a bill now pending in the California Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, having been approved by the California Senate on a 28-11 vote, would require “the Governor to appoint a Chief Data Officer (CDO), and requires the CDO to establish by January 1, 2017, a centralized Internet web portal (statewide open data portal) where the public can access public data held by state agencies.”

The sponsor of this bill is its author, freshman California State Senator Richard Pan, best known so far for his work on SB 277, the universal vaccination bill.  You can read about SB 573 passing the Senate and about what its proponents believe it could do for California here.

For details about the bill, including expert analysis by committee staff along the way, look here.