Two recent bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown could help businesses grow by making troves of government data available online in easily accessible formats.

A panel comprised of leaders in the public and private sector spoke about the importance of open data Wednesday, applauding the two pieces of legislation signed last month, but agreeing there was more to accomplish.

The conference, which took place at the Milken Institute in Santa Monica, attracted a crowd of approximately 150 business owners, data aficionados, and members of the general public.

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who took the first question posed by moderator Ben Welsh, a data editor at the Los Angeles Times, said the legislation marked a significant cultural change on behalf of government.

“The fundamental mindset shift is wait a minute, let’s not let the default be, ‘We’re going to hold onto data unless we’re compelled to share,’” Padilla said. “If there isn’t a reason to want to hold onto it, let’s make it readily available.”

In October, Gov. Jerry Brown approved SB272, which requires government agencies to index all data systems and AB 169, which requires all government data published online to be available in a downloadable format.

Deep Varma, vice president of data engineering at Trulia, said both bills were a step forward.

“I still remember 1999 when I bought my first house, I spent months and months going through the documents and looking into neighborhoods, looking into the crime score, looking into the past transactions,” he said.

Trulia, an online real estate site based in Silicon Valley, now uses data like public property sale information to provide neighborhood information to home buyers.

“Open data allows us to focus on where we want to focus on,” Varma said.

Jason Barrett, a policy analyst at the Milken Institute who co-authored the center’s report on open data in the state, said that a growing number of companies had done something similar.

According to Open Data 500, a study of U.S. companies, over 100 California companies are now using data to generate business – more than any other state.

“They’re just taking the information and making it more accessible and that’s where it provides a big boon to companies,” Barrett said, adding that the next challenge is standardizing the information that will be released.