 State of Arkansas
92nd General Assembly 
Regular Session, 2019 


By: Senator J. English


For An Act To Be Entitled
AN ACT TO CREATE THE DATA-SHARING AND DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING TASK FORCE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.


Subtitle
TO CREATE THE DATA-SHARING AND DATA14 DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING TASK FORCE.


BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS:

 SECTION 1. TEMPORARY LANGUAGE. DO NOT CODIFY. Data-Sharing and Data20 Driven Decision-Making Task Force – Creation – Duties.
(a) As used in this section, “state agency” means a cabinet, agency, institution, authority, department, board, commission, bureau, council, or other agency of the State of Arkansas supported by cash funds or an appropriation of state or federal funds.
(b) The General Assembly finds that:
(1) State agencies contain great amounts of valuable information and reports regarding all aspects of life for the citizens of this state, including without limitation health, business, public safety, labor, and transportation data;
(2) The tremendous amount of data maintained by state agencies can result in the duplication of efforts, data, records, and parts of data and records that may result in the maintenance of inconsistent data and records concerning the same citizen;
(3) The lack of a quick and efficient data-driven delivery system that would enable up-to-the-moment responses to legislative branch and executive branch inquiries impedes the policy-making process and ultimately costs the taxpayers money;
(4) Progressive states have evolved to become data-driven governments that use data as a strategic asset to improve the delivery of services to the state’s citizens and to become more effective stewards of the citizens’ data;
(5) The Open Data and Transparency Task Force, created by Acts 2015, No. 1282, began to address these problems in Acts 2017, No. 912, by creating the roles of Chief Data Officer of the Department of Information Systems and Chief Privacy Officer of the Department of Information Systems and by creating the Data and Transparency Panel; and
(6) The state should continue those efforts by evaluating ways to implement a shared services model for statewide data sharing in order to drive innovation and facilitate efficiency across state agencies, improve the delivery of services, and to better serve the citizens of this state.

 (c) There is created the Data-Sharing and Data-Driven Decision-Making Task Force.
(d)(1) The task force shall consist of the following twelve (12) members:
(A) Six (6) members of the Senate appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and
(B) Six (6) members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
(2) If a vacancy occurs on the task force, the vacancy shall be filled by the same process as the original appointment.
(3) The members of the task force shall be paid per diem and mileage as authorized by law for attendance at meetings of interim committees of the General Assembly.
(e)(1) The President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall call the first meeting of the task
force by July 1, 2019.
(2) The President Pro Tempore shall designate a member of the task force to serve as chair of the first meeting of the task force.
(3) At the first meeting of the task force, the members of the task force shall elect from its membership a chair or co-chairs and other officers as needed for the transaction of its business.
(4)(A) The task force shall conduct its meetings in Pulaski County at the State Capitol building or another site with teleconferencing capabilities.
(B) Meetings of the task force shall be held at least one (1) time every month but may occur more often at the call of the chair.
(5) The task force shall establish rules and procedures for conducting its business.
(6)(A) A majority of the members of the task force shall constitute a quorum for transacting business of the task force.
(B) An affirmative vote of a majority of a quorum present shall be required for the passage of a motion or other task force action.
(7) The Bureau of Legislative Research shall provide staff for the task force.

 (f)(1) The purpose of the task force is to study and examine the possibility of
implementing a shared services model for statewide data sharing.
(2) To achieve this purpose, the task force shall:
(A) Evaluate, study, and address the findings set forth in subsection (b) of this section;
(B) Recommend specific solutions and legislation necessary to create a statewide data sharing system for maintaining and sharing public data that is owned, controlled, collected, or maintained by a state agency; and
(C) Recommend funding mechanisms to support the use of statewide data sharing, including without limitation data analytics, machine learning, and innovative technologies to link data between agencies, to support data driven decision making for all state agencies.
(g) If the task force determines it is necessary, it may contract with one (1) or more 
outside consultants to assist the task force with its study.
(h) On or before December 31, 2019, the task force shall file with the Governor, the 
President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives a final written report of its activities, findings, and recommendations, including recommendations for proposed legislation.
(i) The task force expires on January 1, 2020.

 SECTION 2. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that the lack of a quick and efficient data-driven delivery system that would enable up-to-the-moment responses to legislative branch and executive branch inquiries is harmful to the policy making process of the state; that the lack of availability of a data sharing service for the state causes the unnecessary expenditure of taxpayer dollars by various state agencies to hire consultants and repeat work that may already have been conducted by other entities; and that this act is immediately necessary because it is in the best interests of the state to quickly and efficiently implement a system for data sharing, issue tracking, and progress monitoring between various agencies of the state and branches of government in order to avoid further repetition of tasks and unnecessary expenditures of state funds. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health, and safety shall become effective on:
(1) The date of its approval by the Governor;
(2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the bill; or
(3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto.