An Act requiring the availability of certain public information of State departments and agencies, and supplementing Title 52 of the Revised Statutes.

Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the “New Jersey Open Data Initiative.”

2. The Legislature finds and declares:

a. In recent years, the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents, or other mechanisms of control, has become prevalent;

b. This concept, which is generally referred to as open data, applies to data generated by government departments and agencies, some of which may already be public and available electronically;

c. It is in the interest of this State to increase public awareness and access to data and information created by and available from State departments and agencies, enhance government transparency and accountability, encourage public engagement, and stimulate innovation with the development of new analyses or applications based on the unique data provided by the State;

d. A significant benefit of open data is that it can spur economic development, as it enables private–sector companies to build upon such data to produce innovative and creative items and services that benefit society;

e. The intent of this act is to require the State to conduct a multi-year, multi-phased open data initiative program;

f. The intention is not to impede or delay the ongoing efforts of State government to move data online, nor to limit or expand a person's ability to access a public record; and

g. This act would protect the State from any liability for making open data available to the public, except in the case of gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, or intentional misconduct.

3. As used in this act:

“Data” means final versions of statistical or factual information in alphanumeric form, in as granular form as possible, and reflected in a list, table, graph, chart, map, or other non-narrative form that can be digitally transmitted or processed, and regularly created or maintained by or on behalf of and owned by a State department or agency that records a measurement, transaction, or determination related to the mission of that State department or agency.

“Data set” means a named collection of related records on an electronic storage device, with the collection containing individual data units organized or formatted in a specific and prescribed way, often in tabular form, and accessed by a specific access method that is based on the data set organization, but not including any data that is protected from disclosure under applicable federal or State law, or contract, or data that is proprietary.

4. a. The Department of the Treasury shall establish an unique, dedicated, easily navigable Internet website which shall offer to the public all available appropriate existing and future electronic data sets maintained by each State department and agency.

b. Each State department and agency shall, under the direction of the State Treasurer, provide to the Treasurer or make available thereto a link to appropriate existing and future electronic data sets maintained by the department or agency electronically, in such format as determined by the Treasurer.

Nothing in this section shall be deemed to require departments or agencies to make electronic data sets available upon demand.

Data licensed to the State by a person or entity shall not be made public under this act until it has been reviewed by the Treasurer pursuant to guidelines established thereby, and the person or entity licensing the data agrees to the public disclosure and to the form of such disclosure.

Proprietary and other information protected from disclosure by law or contract shall not be disclosed.

All disclosures shall be consistent with applicable law, including P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), and other State and federal laws related to security and privacy. No personally identifiable information shall be posted online unless the identified individual has consented to the posting or the posting is necessary to fulfill the lawful purposes or duties of the department or agency.

Nothing in this act shall be deemed to supersede P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.).

c. The State Treasurer and any State department or agency may, pursuant to the “Administrative Procedure Act,” P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), adopt such rules and regulations as may be deemed necessary to effectuate the purposes of this act.

d. Each department or agency shall update its electronic data sets in the manner prescribed by the State Treasurer and as often as is deemed necessary by the Treasurer to preserve the integrity and usefulness of the data sets.

5. a. The electronic data sets that a State department or agency provides to the Treasurer for display on the department’s dedicated Internet website established pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. )(pending before the Legislature as this bill) shall be available to the public for informational purposes only. The department shall not warrant the fitness of any electronic data set for a particular purpose. Any department or agency providing an electronic data set shall not be liable for any deficiencies in its completeness or accuracy, except when the department’s or agency’s conduct would constitute gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, or intentional misconduct.

b. Each State department and agency, pursuant to rules and procedures promulgated by the Treasurer, shall verify the accuracy of the electronic data sets it makes available to the public and, if possible, correct any errors or inaccuracies discovered therein by the department or agency providing the data set, by other departments or agencies, or by members of the public.

6. The State Treasurer may make a State department’s or agency’s electronic data sets available to third parties at no cost and with an appropriate level of conditions placed on their use.

7. a. The State Treasurer, after consultation with other State departments and agencies, shall develop policies and procedures to implement the provisions of this act including standards to determine which electronic data sets are appropriate for online disclosure. The standards developed shall not require the departments or agencies to provide information that is otherwise required to be disclosed under P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.) but is personally identifiable information, information that may pose a personal or public security risk, is of minimal public interest, or is otherwise inappropriate for online disclosure as part of a data set.

b. The policy and procedures shall include the following:

(1) technical requirements with the goal of making electronic data sets available to the greatest number of users and for the greatest number of applications, including, whenever practicable, the use of machine readable, non-proprietary technical standards for web publishing; and

(2) guidelines for the department or agency to follow to make electronic data sets available to the Treasurer for display on the dedicated Internet website established pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

c. The Treasurer shall consider various means by which to develop a set of universal data formatting standards to effectuate the purposes of this act, including working with other State departments and agencies, and contracting, if deemed necessary, with nonprofit organizations, commercial vendors or third party groups for this purpose. If such standards are developed and adopted by the Treasurer, they shall be the format that each State department and agency will use to provide existing and future electronic data sets to the Treasurer so that the Treasurer can make the information contained therein available to the public through the dedicated Internet website established pursuant to section 4 of P.L. , c. (C. ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

8. This act shall take effect on January 1 next following the date of enactment.

STATEMENT

The purpose of this bill, designated as the “New Jersey Open Data Initiative,” is to require State departments and agencies to make available certain public information on the Internet.

Specifically, the bill requires the Department of the Treasury to establish an unique, dedicated, easily navigable Internet website which will offer to the public all available appropriate existing and future electronic data sets maintained by each State department and agency. Each State department and agency must, under the direction of the State Treasurer, provide to the Treasurer or make available thereto a link to appropriate existing and future electronic data sets maintained by the department or agency electronically, in such format as determined by the Treasurer. As used in the bill, “data sets” means a named collection of related records on an electronic storage device, with the collection containing individual data units organized or formatted in a specific and prescribed way, often in tabular form, and accessed by a specific access method that is based on the data set organization. A data set would not include any data that is protected from disclosure under applicable federal or State law, or contract, or data that is proprietary.

In addition the bill provides that:

- State departments and agencies would not be required to make data sets available upon demand;

- data licensed to the State by a person or entity would not be made public until it has been reviewed by the Treasurer pursuant to guidelines established thereby, and the person or entity licensing the data agrees to the public disclosure and to the form of such disclosure; and

- proprietary and other information protected from disclosure by law or contract would not be disclosed.

All disclosures would be consistent with current applicable law, including the open public records act, P.L.1963, c.73 (C.47:1A-1 et seq.), and other State and federal laws related to security and privacy. No personally identifiable information would be posted online unless the identified individual has consented to the posting or the posting is necessary to fulfill the lawful purposes or duties of the department or agency.

Under the bill, the electronic data sets that a State department or agency provides to the Treasurer for display on the Department of the Treasury’s dedicated Internet website would be available to the public for informational purposes only. The department would not warrant the fitness of any data set for a particular purpose. The individual State departments and agencies would not be liable for any deficiencies in the completeness or accuracy of any data set, except when the department’s or agency’s conduct would constitute gross negligence, willful and wanton misconduct, or intentional misconduct. However, each State department and agency, pursuant to rules and procedures promulgated by the Treasurer, would be required to verify the accuracy of the electronic data sets it makes available to the public and, if possible, correct any errors or inaccuracies discovered therein by the department or agency providing the data set, other departments or agencies, or by members of the public.