Bill Text: CA AB501 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: State fabric.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-3)

Status: (Passed) 2016-09-30 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 873, Statutes of 2016. [AB501 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB501-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 501	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 22, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Levine

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2015

   An act to add Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 85285) to Part 3
of Division 35 of the Water Code, relating to resources.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 501, as amended, Levine. Resources: Delta research.
   Existing law, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Reform Act of 2009,
requires the Delta Stewardship Council to develop, adopt, and
commence implementation of a comprehensive management plan for the
Delta, meeting specified requirements. The act requires the Delta
Independent Science Board to develop a scientific program relating to
the management of the Delta.
   This bill would require a person conducting Delta research, as
defined, whose research is funded, in whole or in part, by the state,
to take specified actions with regard to the sharing of the primary
data, samples, physical collections, and other supporting materials
created or gathered in the course of that research.  The bill
would make a researcher ineligible for state funding if the
researcher does not   substantially comply with these
requirements within 6 months of completing the Delta research
project, until the researcher complies with those requirements. 
The bill would authorize the Delta Independent Science Board to
adopt guidelines to provide adjustments to, and, where essential,
exceptions from, these requirements and would exempt the adoption of
these guidelines from the procedural requirements for the adoption of
regulations. The bill would require a state agency that funds or
participates in Delta research to implement policies to disseminate
and share Delta research results,  in a specified manner.
  including, but not limited to, making it a condition
of a grant that the grantee share research data, collections, and
findings with other researchers.  
   The bill would make a researcher ineligible for state funding if
the researcher does not provide the information required by the bill
within 6 months of the date of the final publication or public
dissemination of the research findings, until the researcher complies
with the bill's requirements.  
   The bill would provide that all legal rights to tangible property
collected or created during Delta research remain with the
researcher, as determined by the policies of the organization
providing the grant, contract, or other agreement, except as
specified, but would require a researcher to make this tangible
property appropriately available to other researchers. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 85285) is added to
Part 3 of Division 35 of the Water Code, to read:
      CHAPTER 6.  DISSEMINATION AND SHARING OF STATE-FUNDED DELTA
RESEARCH DATA


   85285.  For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
   (a) "Delta research" means scientific inquiry that meets one or
both of the following conditions:
   (1) The San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is,
in whole or in part, the locus of the research.
   (2) The research addresses environmental factors relevant to this
division, including, but not limited to, hydrodynamics, salinity,
geomorphology, studies related to aquatic species, and water quality,
including mercury contamination, in the Sacramento River, the San
Joaquin River, or any tributary, including any impoundment on any
tributary, of the Sacramento or San Joaquin Rivers.
   (b) "Researcher" means a person who conducts Delta research and
whose research is funded, in whole or in part, by the state,
including, but not limited to, by a research grant. 
   (c) "Tangible property" means personal property other than
equipment and intellectual property.  
   85285.5.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

   (a) The state normally allows researchers to retain principal
legal rights to intellectual property developed through state-funded
research to provide incentives for development and dissemination of
inventions, software, and publications that can enhance their
usefulness, accessibility, and upkeep.
   (b) These incentives do not, however, reduce the responsibility
that investigators and organizations have, as members of the
scientific and engineering community, to make results, data, and
collections available to other researchers.
   (c) Some state-funded Delta research supports the collection or
creation of tangible property, such as insects, marine life, drilling
core samples, and genetically altered microorganisms.  

   85285.5.  It is the intent of the Legislature that persons
conducting Delta research have a responsibility, as members of the
scientific community, to share results and findings with other
researchers for the public benefit, including, but not limited to,
data, samples, and other material collected while conducting the
research. 
   85286.  Except as provided in Section 85286.5, a researcher shall
do all of the following:
   (a) Provide the Delta Science Program with access to all primary
data created for conducting Delta research.
   (b) Promptly prepare and submit for publication, with authorship
that accurately reflects the contributions of those involved, all
significant findings from Delta research.
   (c) Permit and encourage the publication of Delta research by
those actually performing Delta research, unless a state funding
recipient intends to publish or disseminate those findings by itself.

   (d) Share with other researchers, at no more than incremental cost
and within a reasonable time, the primary data, samples, physical
collections, and other supporting materials created or gathered in
the course of conducting Delta research.
   (e) Encourage and facilitate the sharing of the primary data,
samples, physical collections, and other supporting materials created
or gathered in the course of conducting Delta research.
   (f) Release privileged or confidential information only in a form
that protects the privacy of individuals and subjects involved.
   85286.5.  The Delta Independent Science Board established pursuant
to Section 85280 may adopt guidelines to provide adjustments to,
and, where essential, exceptions from, the requirements of this
chapter, for the purposes of safeguarding the rights of individuals
and subjects, or the validity of the results, and the integrity of
collections, or accommodating legitimate research interests. The
guidelines adopted pursuant to this section are not regulations for
purposes of, and shall not be subject to, Chapter 3.5 (commencing
with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
   85287.  A state agency that funds or participates in Delta
research shall implement policies to disseminate and share Delta
research results,  in ways appropriate to field and
circumstances, including through the proposal review process,
conducting negotiations for, and imposing conditions upon, awards,
providing appropriate support and incentives for data cleanup,
documentation, dissemination, and storage, and by taking other
similar actions.   including, but not limited to, 
 making it a condition of a grant   that the grantee
share research data, collections, and findings with other
researchers.  
   85287.5.  A researcher that does not provide the information in
the manner required by this chapter within six months of the date of
the final publication or public dissemination of the findings of the
Delta research results is not eligible for state funding until the
researcher complies with this chapter.  
   85288.  (a) All legal rights to tangible property collected or
created during Delta research remain with the researcher, as
determined by the policies of the organization providing the grant,
contract, or other agreement specifying the rights and obligations of
the researcher, except as otherwise provided in that grant,
contract, or agreement.
   (b) A researcher shall, as a member of the scientific and
engineering community, make the tangible property specified in
subdivision (a) appropriately available to other researchers.
 
   85287.5.  A researcher that does not substantially comply with the
requirements of Section 85286 within six months of completing the
Delta research project is not eligible for state funding until the
researcher complies with those requirements.