Drafter
Clerk 05/12/2010
Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to establishing a requirement for the county to strive to publish existing, high value data sets appropriate for unrestricted public access on a single web site; and adding a new section to K.C.C. chapter 2.16.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. Many cities, including San Francisco, New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C., have released public data to web and mobile application developers in order to allow for the development of web or mobile applications that will benefit the public. For example, San Francisco has released selected crime data that has allowed application developers to develop web and mobile applications that provide interactive crime maps so that citizens can map the crime patterns in their neighborhood.
2. The federal government, as part of its Open Government Directive, requires all federal agencies to release high-value data sets. There are now over one thousand federal data sets available on the federal government's open data web site. Examples of data sets released by the federal government include air quality data, on-time flight data and data on federal recreation sites.
3. Data that resides in technology systems is different from information such as documents, emails and calendars in that it is structured and can be used by other computer applications for analysis or to develop web or mobile applications that display the data in new ways.
4. Providing access to county data can lead to innovation in how the public interacts with government, resulting in social and economic benefits for the county.
5. King County has a long history of innovation and is home to hundreds of technology companies that are changing the way the world operates.
6. By publishing county data in one location, King County seeks to encourage innovation, entrepreneurs and job development and to increase public access to government information.
7. Citizens are the greatest asset of any government. There are many benefits to engaging our highly skilled workforce in the development of applications and increasing citizen access to King County information.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
NEW SECTION. SECTION 1. There is hereby added to K.C.C. chapter 2.16 a new section to read as follows:
A. For the purposes of this section:
1. "High-value data set" means a collection of data that is related to one of the core services of the county, improves public knowledge of the agency and its operations, increases government accountability and responsiveness or creates economic opportunity. For purposes of this legislation, documents, emails and calendars are generally not considered high value data sets.
2. "Open format" means a format that is published and available without requiring a specific manufacturer's software or hardware to access or use.
B.1. King County shall strive within existing budgeted resources to publish on-line in an open format existing, high-value sets data maintained by the county that are appropriate for unrestricted public access.
2. In selecting high value data sets for on-line publication, the executive shall seek input from the public, including those seeking to develop applications using county data.
C.1. The executive shall make all data sets selected for publication available on a single web site designed to allow easy access, downloading and manipulation of the data.
2. Data sets shall be updated and new data sets added to the web site as resources allow.
3. The web site shall include:
a. information about each data set, including information on who to contact if there are questions about the data sets;
b. terms of use statement for the users of the data; and
c. a means for the public to give feedback on and assessment of the quality of the data and provide input about which data to prioritize for publication on the web site.
D. High value data set available on the web site shall not include the names of individuals or any other personal identifying data as defined in K.C.C. 2.14.010 or any information that is exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act, chapter 42.56 RCW.
SECTION 2. A. The web site with the initial data sets available for publication in section 1.C. of this ordinance shall be on-line by November 1, 2010.
B. By August 1, 2010, the executive shall file with the clerk of the council in the form of a paper original and an electronic copy a list of the initial high-value data sets that are being considered for on-line publication and the procedures developed to ensure that all data sets available on the web site are appropriate for unrestricted public access.
The clerk of the council shall retain the original and provide an electronic copy to all councilmembers.