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Adopt a County wide policy authorizing to the use of electronic signatures to conduct official County business and replace the requirement for ‘wet’ signature on most County business transactions as permitted by law
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Published Notice Required? Yes ____ No _X _
Public Hearing Required? Yes ____ No _X _
DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt a County wide policy authorizing to the use of electronic signatures to conduct official County business and replace the requirement for ‘wet’ signature on most County business transactions as permitted by law.
SUMMARY:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors adopt a policy on the acceptability of electronic signatures to replace a hand-written (wet) signature, with the goal of encouraging the use of paperless, electronic documents whenever appropriate to collect and preserve signatures on County documents quickly, securely and efficiently.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There is no General Fund impact to adopting this policy; however, it is anticipated that such policy will likely generate significant savings due to greater efficiencies in the routing of documents. Existing business processes can benefit from adopting the electronic signature policy in that it allows for the elimination of paper-based signature processes for business transactions that have workflow approvals in Solano systems (e.g. the Solano County finance system has automated workflow events that require secured and auditable approval events that can substitute for current paper-based approvals)
It is however expected that maximizing the utility of the electronic signature policy will lead to the County considering subscription based electronic signature software tools to replace paper-based business processes that require user approval and do not have systems-based support currently. Proposals for software solutions to support the electronic signature policy that incur new costs to the County will be brought before the Board of Supervisors in accordance with existing procurement authority policies.
The costs associated with preparing the policy document and this board report are nominal and absorbed within the departments FY 2018/19 budget.
DISCUSSION:
The California Uniform Electronic Transaction Act or “UETA” (Civil Code sections 1633.1 through 1633.17) provides that, an electronic signature (or e-signature) can be accepted in place of a "wet" signature if both parties have explicitly or implicitly agreed to accept a signature electronically. An electronic signature is defined as a signature created digitally by an authorized person with the intent to show authorship or to sign a record indicating agreement. Since the UETA was first adopted, technology has advanced significantly to the point that electronic signatures are commonplace in the processing of contract, loan documents, etc., particularly because the use of e-signatures provides a secure method of signing and transferring documents electronically. Any alterations to an electronically signed document invalidate the signature. As a result, an electronically signed document can be considered more secure and verifiable than a traditionally signed document. Additionally, a history of any changes made to the document prior to the signature is kept with the document and cannot be changed or deleted. When electronic signatures are used, hash values are attached to the document to verify the authenticity of a document during any transfer for added security.
The attached policy will allow for the broad application and acceptance of electronic signatures on a variety of internal as well as external documents, when allowed by law, to expedite the routing and processing of documents.
ALTERNATIVES:
The Board could choose to not approve this policy; however, this alternative is not recommended because adopting this policy allows departments to improve internal processes and facilitate streamlined workflows.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
County Counsel & Auditor Controller departments were consulted and contributed to the drafting of the policy and associated board report.
CAO RECOMMENDATION:
APPROVE DEPARTMENTAL RECOMMENDATION