7540.4.
(a) The commission may contract, through an open and competitive request for proposal process, and consistent with Section 12100 of the Public Contract Code, with vendors possessing the necessary software and financial data standards development expertise to do both of the following:(1) Build one or more taxonomies suitable for public agency financial filings, including, but not limited to, XBRL taxonomies.
(2) Create an open source software tool that enables a public agency required by other law to file or submit a financial statement to easily create machine readable documents consistent with the taxonomy or taxonomies developed pursuant to paragraph (1), if necessary. The open source software tool created pursuant to this paragraph shall have no restriction on its use.
(b) (1) No later than January 1, 2021, the commission shall report to the Legislature and make recommendations regarding how to transition financial reporting by state and local agencies to a machine readable format. The report shall include, but not be limited to, the following information:
(A) The cost of creating a taxonomy, as described in subdivision (a).
(B) The cost of creating an open source software tool, as described in subdivision (a).
(C) The amount of time necessary for public agencies to transition to a machine readable format.
(D) The cost of transitioning all public agencies and how the transition would be funded.
(E) Recommendations regarding whether such a transition is the most cost-effective method of preparing financial statements.
(2) The commission may enter into an interagency agreement with the University of California or the California State University for consultation on the report described in paragraph (1).
(3) The report required to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.