HBA-ALS S.B. 1367 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1367
By: Harris
State Affairs
4/22/1999
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

The open records law provides that a legislator is provided one copy of any
public information without charge.  However this provision does not apply
to the gathering of information by a legislative agency, such as the
Legislative Council (council) or the Legislative Budget Board, or by a
legislative committee.   

The council is required to conduct investigations and studies and to gather
and disseminate information for the legislature's use. To perform its duty,
the council maintains databases of statistical and demographic information
and must  rely on the cooperation of various agencies in order to obtain
and correlate information for legislative policy analysis and development.  

S.B. 1367 allows legislative agencies and committees to receive without
charge one copy of public information from a state agency.  This bill
allows the council to gather and analyze information relating to certain
public service for the purposes of conducting research and producing
reports.  This bill requires state agencies to cooperate with the council
in its information gathering efforts. 
 
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 Section 552.264, Government Code, to require that
legislative agencies and committees be provided one requested copy of
public information without cost.   

SECTION 2.  Amends Chapter 323, Government Code (governing the Texas
Legislative Council), by adding Section 323.019, as follows: 

Sec. 323.019. STATISTICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND STUDIES.
Authorizes the Texas Legislative Council (council) to gather and analyze
information relating to public education and other public services for the
purpose of conducting statistical and demographic research and producing
reports.  Requires state agencies in each branch of the government to
cooperate with the council in the gathering of information and production
of reports and to provide the council with requested information to the
extent permitted by state or federal law. 

SECTION 3.  Amends Section 276.008(a), Election Code, to add "voter
turnout" to the election information that must be provided by local
election officials to the council. 

SECTION 4.  Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 6, Tax Code, by adding Section
6.14, as follows: 

Sec. 6.14.  INFORMATION PROVIDED TO TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. (a) Requires
an appraisal district to provide, without charge, a requested copy of its
appraisal information or data maintained in its electronic appraisal
records to the Texas Legislative Council.  

(b) Requires the appraisal district to provide the requested information to
the council as  soon as practicable, but no later than the 30th day after
the district receives the request.  

(c) Requires the information or data to be in a form approved by the
council. 

SECTION 5.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.