FROM: James D. Herberg, General Manager
SUBJECT:
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VIDEO RETENTION BILL
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GENERAL MANAGER'S RECOMMENDATION
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RECOMMENDATION:
Direct Orange County Sanitation District staff and Lobbyist to pursue legislation amending the California Government Code Section 53160 requirements for retention of video records.
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BACKGROUND
In 2019, the Legislative and Public Affairs Committee authorized staff and our Lobbyist to work with the California Special Districts Association (CSDA) and the Municipal Information Systems Association of California (MISAC) to carry a bill updating and amending video retention requirements in California Government Code Section 53160.
Working with CSDA and MISAC, Assemblyman Cooley authored Assembly Bill (AB) 510. The goal of AB 510 was to allow local public agencies, including special districts, to adopt records retention policies designed for modern digital recording technologies, while ensuring the proper retention of any records in which an incident may have occurred. This proposed bill would have allowed agencies to retain important records while deleting useless ones, thus saving a significant amount of ratepayer dollars on unnecessary data storage costs. Unfortunately, AB 510 died in the State Assembly in January 2020.
RELEVANT STANDARDS
• Maintain influential legislative advocacy and a public outreach program
• Build brand, trust, and support with policy makers and community leaders
• Maintain collaborative and cooperative relationships with regulators, stakeholders, and neighboring communities
PROBLEM
The California Government Code requires public agencies, including the Orange County Sanitation District (OC San), to retain all video records for a minimum of 12 months. Many of the video records stored by OC San, such as security camera footage, do not capture any useful information; but must be retained at an estimated cost of $72,000 per year.
PROPOSED SOLUTION
Work with associations such as CSDA and MISAC to update and amend Government Code Section 53160 to allow special districts to minimize retention requirements for useless information; but to ensure the proper retention of any records in which an incident may have occurred.
RAMIFICATIONS OF NOT TAKING ACTION
Continued compliance with Government Code Section 53160 at an annual cost to OC San of approximately $72,000.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Following is an estimate of the costs that OC San will incur abiding by the current video retention regulations:
• FY22-23: With one year of retention - $72,000/year
• FY23-24: Estimated based on future expansion of OC San
o With one year of retention - $90,000/year
o With 90 days of retention - $52,000/year
ATTACHMENT
The following attachment(s) may be viewed on-line at the OC San website (www.ocsan.gov) with the complete agenda package:
• Assembly Bill 510