Current Status Introducing Body:House Bill Number:4565 Primary Sponsor:Kempe Committee Number:25 Type of Legislation:GB Subject:Computer Technology and Data Management Act Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Computer Document Number:436/12260.DW Introduced Date:Mar 17, 1992 Last History Body:House Last History Date:Mar 17, 1992 Last History Type:Introduced, read first time, referred to Committee Scope of Legislation:Statewide All Sponsors:Kempe Beatty Type of Legislation:General Bill
Bill Body Date Action Description CMN
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4565 House Mar 17, 1992 Introduced, read first time, 25
referred to Committee
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TO ENACT THE SOUTH CAROLINA "COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY AND DATA MANAGEMENT ACT"; TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTIONS 30-4-52, 30-4-54, AND 30-4-56 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY ON ACCESS TO PUBLIC RECORDS, INFORMATION DISSEMINATION AND SERVICES BY GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, USE OF GOVERNMENT OWNED INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES, AND THE JOINT DEVELOPMENT AND FINANCING OF INFORMATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS BY COUNTIES, MUNICIPALITIES, STATE AGENCIES, AND OTHER UNITS OF GOVERNMENT; AND TO AMEND SECTION 30-4-20, RELATING TO DEFINITIONS USED IN THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT, SO AS TO INCLUDE WITHIN THE DEFINITION OF "PUBLIC RECORD" IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION RELATED TO THE PERFORMANCE, ACTIVITIES, AND DECISIONS OF PUBLIC OFFICIALS, TO PROVIDE THAT WHEN RECORDS ARE DIGITALLY STORED IN COMPUTER SYSTEMS, ACCESS TO CERTAIN SOFTWARE NECESSARY TO ACCESS THESE RECORDS MUST BE GRANTED UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES, AND TO PROVIDE THAT NOTHING IN THIS SECTION AUTHORIZES OR REQUIRES THE COPIES AND DELIVERY OF ENTIRE DATABASES FOR COMMERCIAL USE OR REQUIRES THE PROVISION OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "Computer Technology and Data Management Act".
SECTION 2. The 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 30-4-52. `Electronic products and services' mean computer-related services and products developed or maintained, or both, provided by a public body, and include any of the following:
(1) electronic manipulation or duplication of the data contained in public records in order to tailor the data to a request, or to develop a new information product that did not exist but for the request and meets the needs of the requestor;
(2) duplicating public records in alternative formats not used by the public body, providing periodic updates of an electronic file or database or duplicating an electronic file or database;
(3) providing on-line access to an electronic file or database;
(4) providing information that cannot be retrieved or generated by the existing computer application or operation programs of the public body;
(5) providing functional electronic access to the information system of the public body. In this subsection `functional access' includes the capability for alphanumeric query and printing, graphic query and plotting, nongraphic data input and analysis, and graphic data input and analysis;
(6) providing licenses to operating or application software developed by the public body or developed by or purchased from a private contractor for the public body;
(7) generating maps, listings, special reports, and analyses or other standard or customized products from an electronic geographic information system or relational database management system.
Section 30-4-54. (A) A county, municipality, state agency, or other public body may elect to exercise proprietary authority over its information management system and provide electronic products and services under the provisions of this chapter.
(B) A public body may elect to establish a jointly owned and managed database, geographic information system, or other information management system and enter into contracts under which the participating public bodies share one or all of the following aspects of an information management system: use, capital costs, staff costs, system implementation, and data conversion and maintenance duties.
(C) A public body or multi-agency consortium may elect to license rights to dissemination of all or part of a database or for the provision of electronic products and services to a nonprofit or for profit corporation, individual, or government agency, and enter into contracts and technology licensing agreements necessary to establish the public enterprise relationships. Exclusive licensing arrangements are subject to bid and other applicable procurement regulations, and are limited to terms not to exceed four years.
(D) A public body or multi-agency consortium may enforce copyrights in databases, electronic products, or software, may limit liability through warranty disclaimers or other appropriate contract provisions with customers, and may enter into agreements for data maintenance or other like kind services in lieu of user fees.
Section 30-4-56. A public body that elects to provide electronic products and services independently, jointly, or through licensing arrangements with other service providers may establish user fees for the products and services subject to:
(1) User fees for electronic products and services must be established by publication of a fee schedule. The fee schedule must be promulgated as a regulation, ordinance, or other appropriate rule-making activity subject to notice, public hearing, affirmative consideration of comments, and other public participation activities normal for the rule-making activities.
(2) User fees must be based on the actual capital cost of the information management system including hardware, software, communications, data conversion, and other implementation costs; and operational costs including the costs of staff, database creation or maintenance, or both, communication links, software licenses, and hardware upgrades. User fees must be based on the anticipated demand for products and services, and on the estimated value of the use of the information management system by the public bodies owning and using the system. User fees may not exceed the actual incremental costs of providing the electronic services and products plus a reasonable portion of the capital and operational costs of the information management system.
(3) User fees must be reduced or waived by the public body if the electronic products and services are to be used for a public purpose, including public agency program support, nonprofit activities, journalism and academic teaching and research. Fee reductions and waivers must be uniformly applied among persons and organizations which are similarly situated.
(4) All fees collected by the public body for the provision of electronic products and services and not disbursed or transferred to another agency or organization must be used to support the maintenance and enhancement of the information management system used to generate the electronic products and services."
SECTION 3. Section 30-4-20(c) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(c) `Public record' includes all identifiable information related to the performance, activities, and decisions of public officials or the formation of public policy in the form of books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, recordings, or other documentary materials regardless of physical form or characteristics prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body. When records are digitally stored in computer systems, access to operational or application software necessary to access records for journalism or other noncommercial purposes must be granted. Records such as income tax returns, medical records, hospital medical staff reports, scholastic records, adoption records, records related to registration, and circulation of library materials which contain names or other personally identifying details regarding the users of public, private, school, college, technical college, university, and state institutional libraries and library systems, supported in whole or in part by public funds or expending public funds, or records which reveal the identity of the library patron checking out or requesting an item from the library or using other library services, except nonidentifying administrative and statistical reports of registration and circulation, and other records which by law are required to be closed to the public are not considered to be made open to the public under the provisions of this act; nothing herein in this subsection authorizes or requires the disclosure of those records where the public body, prior to January 20, 1987, by a favorable vote of three-fourths a majority of the membership, taken after receipt of a written request, concluded that the public interest was best served by not disclosing them. Nothing herein in this subsection authorizes or requires the disclosure of records of the Board of Financial Institutions pertaining to applications and surveys for charters and branches of banks and savings and loan associations or surveys and examinations of the institutions required to be made by law. Nothing in this subsection authorizes or requires the copying and delivery of entire databases for commercial use, or requires the provision of electronic products and services as defined in this chapter."
SECTION 4. If a provision of this act or the application of it to a person is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of the act which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application and to this end the provisions of this act are severable.
SECTION 5. This act takes effect January 1, 1993, and only governs transactions which take place after December 31, 1992.