Hi: Here is Iris Carter Jones' Sept. legislative report. She is the legislative analyst for the CA Genealogical Alliance. Interesting end-of-the-year report. Regards, Nan Wolf 71532.734@compuserve.com -------------Forwarded Message----------------- From: Iris Jones, INTERNET:ijones@ns.net To: "G.A.S. List", INTERNET:ijones@ns.net CC: [unknown], INTERNET:feefhs@feefhs.org Date: 9/2/00 3:53 PM RE: September Legislative Report LEGISLATIVE REPORT The 'feeding frenzy' of the legislators attempting to pass hundreds of 1999-2000 Session bills ended after midnight August 31, 2000. It would be funny, if not so sad. The previous week, I tuned into the floor sessions of both the Senate and Assembly a half a dozen times, only to find legislators heaping praises upon and bidding a fond farewell to those fellow legislators who have been termed out. Hours of time spent at taxpayers expense on something that could have been done on their own time after the business of the legislature was done. Maybe some of that 'good legislation' that got caught up in the 'glitches' or lost in the last minute rush, might have seen the light of day. Sound jaded, you are right. Just as a point of interest, at last count, the State Senate presented 2203 and the Assembly 2941 bills in the 1999-2000 session. That does not include resolutions, ABX, ACA, ACR, AJR, and HR, which I did not count. Of course, only a small fraction of those bills lived to go to the desk of the Governor for signature. The good news is that AB1779 by assemblyman Anthony Pescetti to establish the California Historic Cemetery Commission went to the Governor for signature, as did AB2580 by Assemblyman Cox which will help protect our cemeteries, and increase penalties for vandalism to cemeteries, and places of worship. Because of the importance to the preservation of our historic cemeteries, members should contact the Governor and encourage him to sign both bills. To contact him you may write to Governor Gray Davis, State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814; phone 916-445-2841; Fax 916-445-4633; Email <graydavis@governor.ca.gov>. Two other bills we have followed which have gone to the Governor are Assemblyman Shelley's AB2799 which requires agencies to furnish copies of public information in any format available in their agency; and Senator Sher's SB2027 which gives the public recourse when agencies hamper access to public records. Ironically, Senator Peace's SB129 also went to the Governor for signature. After two years of time, work and energy, we have a bill that will require the State to establish within the Dept of Consumer Affairs an Office of Privacy Protection with the sole "purpose of protecting the privacy of individuals' personal information in a manner consistent with the California Constitution by identifying consumer problems in the privacy area and facilitating development of fair information practices in adherence with the Information Practices Act of 1977." The office will: inform the public of potential options for protecting, and avoiding misuse of personal information; make recommendations to organization for privacy policies and practices; promote voluntary and mutually agreed upon non-binding arbitration and mediation of privacy related disputes. The bill describes what is required to set up this office and its duties. But it goes on, "The provisions of this article shall only be operative for those years in which there is an appropriation from the General Fund in the Budget Act. . ." It also states that "'Each state department and state agency shall enact and maintain a permanent privacy policy, in adherence with the Information Practices Act of 1977." Other than the establishment of another office within a State agency, I found nothing in this bill that was not already included in State law. To follow State Legislation check the State Web Site <http://www.sen.ca.gov > or order copies from Bill Room, State Capital, Sacramento, CA 95814, 916-445-2323. To be added to my Network, send name, name of your organization, and Email address to me at <ijones@ns.net>. ----Iris Carter Jones, CSGA Legislative Network Coordinator, September 1, 2000. Permission is granted to reprint Legislative Reports. Please cite your source. ----------------------- Internet Header -------------------------------- Sender: ijones@ns.net Received: from dfw-smtpout3.email.verio.net (dfw-smtpout3.email.verio.net [129.250.36.43]) by sphmgaaf.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.9) with ESMTP id SAA09459; Sat, 2 Sep 2000 18:53:05 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [129.250.38.61] (helo=dfw-mmp1.email.verio.net) by dfw-smtpout3.email.verio.net with esmtp (Exim 3.12 #7) id 13VM9o-0001Ml-00; Sat, 02 Sep 2000 22:53:04 +0000 Received: from [209.162.64.99] (helo=pm03-33.sac.verio.net) by dfw-mmp1.email.verio.net with smtp (Exim 3.15 #4) id 13VM9l-0006C5-00; Sat, 02 Sep 2000 22:53:01 +0000 From: Iris Jones <ijones@ns.net> To: Master List <ijones@ns.net>, "G.A.S. List" <ijones@ns.net> Cc: feefhs@feefhs.org Subject: September Legislative Report Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000 15:52:02 -0700 Message-ID: <n313rsg0i32437ca07t1tb9hdlma76pn10@4ax.com> X-Mailer: Forte Agent 1.8/32.548 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable