HBA-TYH H.B. 3317 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3317 By: Chavez State Affairs 3/30/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE As access to the Internet becomes easier and less costly, many people are using live video and audio to conduct meetings. State agencies sometimes hold meetings in Austin that require employees from other cities to attend. These employees travel to Austin at state expense. H.B. 3317 requires a state agency with offices outside of Austin to broadcast meetings over the Internet. The meetings would be archived with the provider for a specified number of days. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 551, Government Code, by adding Section 551.128, as follows: Sec. 551.128. INTERNET BROADCAST OF CERTAIN STATE AGENCY MEETINGS. Defines "Internet." Requires a state agency that has at least one office outside Austin to use the Internet for the live broadcast of an open meeting in accordance with Chapter 559. Requires a state agency that broadcasts a meeting over the Internet to provide on the Internet the same notice of the meeting that the governmental body is required to post under Subchapter C. Provides that the notice on the Internet must be posted within the time required for posting notice under Subchapter C. SECTION 2. Amends Subtitle A, Title 5, Government Code, by adding Chapter 559, as follows: CHAPTER 559. BROADCAST OF CERTAIN STATE AGENCY EVENTS OVER INTERNET Sec. 559.001. DEFINITION. Defines "Internet." Sec. 559.002. BROADCAST OVER INTERNET. Requires a state agency that has at least one office outside Austin to use the Internet for the live broadcast of the meetings, training sessions, seminars, and other events that would require the agency's employees to travel to Austin. Sec. 559.003. INTERNET SITE. Requires a state agency that broadcasts a meeting, training session, seminar, or other event over the Internet to establish an Internet site and provide access to the public to the event from that site. Requires the events to be archived and available on the Internet site for at least 90 days. Requires the state agency to contract with a private Internet provider to broadcast the events. Requires the private Internet provider to supply the state agency with the software required to view and listen to the broadcast of the event. SECTION 3. Amends the subchapter heading to Subchapter F, Chapter 551, Government Code, as follows: SUBCHAPTER F. MEETINGS USING TELEPHONE, VIDEOCONFERENCE, OR INTERNET Deletes "by," "conference call or," and "call" from the old heading. SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 5. Emergency clause.