2023 California Code › Government Code - GOV › TITLE 2 - GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA › DIVISION 3 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT › PART 2.5 - AGENCIES › CHAPTER 1 - Administration › Section 12815.

12815. (a) The Office of Data and Innovation is hereby established within the Government Operations Agency. Effective July 1, 2023, the Office of Data and Innovation shall operate as a standalone entity that reports to the Government Operations Agency consistent with other state entities listed in Section 12803.2.
(b) There shall be a Director of the Office of Data and Innovation.
The director shall be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Governor. The appointment of the director shall be subject to confirmation by the Senate. The director shall report to the Secretary of Government Operations. The director shall be responsible for managing the affairs of the office and shall perform all duties, exercise all powers and jurisdiction, and assume and discharge all responsibilities necessary to carry out the purposes of this section. The Governor may appoint people to the office who are exempt from civil service. The total number of exempt positions in the office shall not exceed 22.
(c) There shall be a Chief Data Officer in the Office of Data and Innovation who shall be appointed by, and serve at the pleasure of, the Governor. The Chief Data Officer shall report to the Director of the Office of Data and Innovation. The Chief Data Officer shall be responsible for data practices within the state with an overarching goal to improve government data use.
(d) For the purposes of this section:
(1) “Director” means the Director of the Office of Data and Innovation.
(2) “CDO” means Chief Data Officer of the Office of Data and Innovation.
(3) “Fund” means the Data and Innovation Services Revolving Fund.
(4) “Office” means the Office of Data and Innovation.
(5) “Open data” means a dataset that is available as a whole to all at no cost, discoverable and accessible on the internet, published to minimize the time between the creation and dissemination of the data or documents, provided under terms that permit reuse, redistribution, and mixing with other datasets, and provided in an open format that is machine-readable on data.ca.gov or its successor internet website.
(6) “Service delivery” means the provision of a service or services, product or products, by a state entity or state entities to persons, other state entities, constitutional state entities, independent state entities, local government entities, federal entities, private entities, or nonprofit entities.
(7) “State entity” means an entity within the executive branch that is under the direct authority of the Governor, including, but not limited to, all departments, boards, bureaus, commissions, councils, and agencies.
(e) The office’s mission shall be to deliver better government services to the people of California through technology and service innovation, data, and design. The office shall fulfill this mission by:
(1) Collaborating with state entities to transform government services. The office shall focus on measurably improving services using a deliberate, user-focused approach and data-informed practices.
(2) Investing in state capabilities to put users first, build iteratively, and let data drive decisions.
(3) Empowering the use of data by ensuring that the state has the infrastructure, processes, and people to manage, access, and use data ethically, efficiently, effectively, securely, responsibly, and in a manner that respects privacy.
(4) Rethinking and improving how the state buys digital services and datasets.
(5) Expanding the use of common platforms, services, and tools.
(f) The director shall hire staff to assist in the fulfillment of the duties and responsibilities of the office.
(g) The director shall establish a program to improve the state’s service delivery and data functions, guided by service delivery and data best practices.
(1) The director is hereby authorized to engage with state entities for the purpose of improving the service and data delivery functions of those state entities.
(2) Engagements shall be formalized in writing and shall identify, at minimum, the roles and responsibilities of both the office and the state entity being engaged by the office.
(h) The director and the CDO may create, update, or publish, in consultation with the appropriate control agency, policies, standards, and procedures for state entities in the State Administrative Manual or Statewide Information Management Manual regarding:
(1) Service delivery design, implementation, maintenance, and operations.
(2) Service delivery assessments.
(3) Service delivery improvement and problem mitigation.
(4) Data governance and management, including, but not limited to, policies, standards, and procedures related to data sharing, data inventory, and open data, data standards for consistency and interoperability of data across the state, and methodological and evidence standards, including ethical data use, for performance management, analytics, and evaluation.
(i) The director shall train state supervisors, managers, executives, and other staff in leadership positions regarding service delivery and data best practices. The director may require state entity staff to attend training deemed necessary by the director. The director may consult or contract with the Department of Human Resources or the Department of Technology for assistance or delivery of training as needed to fulfill the purposes of this section.
(j) Datasets available as open data on data.ca.gov or its successor internet website or other state-managed open data portals are provided for informational purposes only. The state does not warrant the completeness, accuracy, content, or fitness for any particular purpose or use of data made available on the data portal. No warranties may be implied or inferred with respect to the publishable data made available on the data portal. The state is not liable for any deficiencies in the completeness, accuracy, content, or fitness for any particular purpose or use of publishable data made available on the data portal or by any third-party application utilizing publishable data.
(k) No later than January 31, 2024, and every two years thereafter, the CDO shall create and publish a report detailing a state data strategy to empower the use of data by ensuring that the state has the infrastructure, processes, and personnel to manage access and use data ethically, efficiently, effectively, securely, responsibly, and in a manner that respects privacy. The report may also include recommendations to improve data management across state departments, however, those recommendations shall not require those agencies to act. The report shall be submitted to the legislative and judicial branches.
(l) Any funds appropriated to the office for the purpose of funding various statewide data and innovation activities are to be administered by the director for the implementation, support, or assessment of state entities’ existing or proposed service delivery functions.
(m) While engaged with a state entity, office staff shall, in the performance of their duties related to the improvement of service delivery and data functions, have access to, and the authority to examine or reproduce, any and all records, data, information technology systems or other functionality, or any other document or component related to the service delivery function being improved by the office.
(1) The office shall maintain the confidentiality of, and protect from unauthorized access or disclosure, all records, data, information technology systems or other functionality, or any other document or component received from, or otherwise accessed from, any state entity engaged with the office in accordance with state law, including, but not limited to, the Information Practices Act of 1977.
(2) The director, any employee or former employee of the office, any person or business entity that is contracting with or has contracted with the office and the employees and former employees of that person or business entity shall not divulge or make known to any person not employed by the office in any manner not expressly permitted by law any particulars of any record, data, information technology systems or other functionality, or any other document or component, the disclosure of which is restricted by law from release to the public. This subdivision shall also apply to the officers and employees of, and any person or business entity that is contracting with, or has contracted with, any state or local governmental agency or publicly created entity, that has assisted the office in the course of any engagement.
(3) Any officer, employee, or person who discloses the particulars of any record, data, information technology systems or other functionality, or any other document or component in violation of this section shall be subject to a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), including the release of any information received pursuant to Section 10850 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, or that is otherwise prohibited by law to be disclosed.
(4) Upon the completion of each engagement, the office shall dispose of all records, data, and other documentation received, copied, or otherwise in the possession of the office as a result of the engagement that contains personally identifiable information in accordance with state law.
(n) The adoption, amendment, or repeal of the policies, procedures, guidelines, or other directives consistent with this chapter are exempted from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1).
(o) (1) Effective July 1, 2020, the Data and Innovation Services Revolving Fund is hereby created within the State Treasury. The fund shall be administered by the director to receive all moneys properly credited to the office. Notwithstanding Section 13340, until July 1, 2024, moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the office without regard to fiscal year to pay all costs arising from this section and rendering of services to state entities, including, but not limited to, employment and compensation of necessary personnel and expenses, such as operating and other expenses of the office, and to establish reserves. On and after July 1, 2024, moneys in the fund shall be available upon appropriation of the Legislature. At the discretion of the director, segregated, dedicated accounts within the fund may be established.
(2) On or before February 1, 2021, and each February 1 thereafter, the director shall submit a report to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, or the chairperson’s designee, that includes a summary of the activities of the office and a listing and descriptions of all expenditures made from the fund, as well as all revenues received by the fund, for the prior fiscal year. The report shall also include all of the following:
(A) A list of past and current engagements organized by state entity.
(B) A list of proposed and approved information technology projects that received funding from the fund.
(C) Measurable outcomes from changes in business processes, program design, and service delivery associated with engagements receiving funding from the fund.
(3) The fund shall consist of all of the following:
(A) Moneys appropriated and made available by the Legislature for the purposes of this section.
(B) Donations, endowments, or grants of funds from private or public sources that commit to the office’s mission of the ethical, efficient, effective, secure, and responsible use of data in a manner that respects privacy. The office and the Controller may establish separate accounts in the fund for the purpose of separating deposits according to their origin or intended purpose.
(C) Any other moneys that may be made available to the office from any other source, including the return from investments of moneys by the Treasurer.
(p) Notwithstanding any other law, the Controller may use the moneys in the fund for cashflow loans to the General Fund, as provided in Sections 16310 and 16381.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 569, Sec. 31. (AB 156) Effective September 27, 2022.)