HBA-KDB H.B. 1861 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1861
By: Danburg
State Affairs
3/14/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, there is an open records exception for audit work papers
of the state auditor or the auditor of a state agency, which are  audit
blueprints that include the plan, the sampling process, and the test
subject.  However, this exception is not extended to cover work papers of
an auditor of a political subdivision.  Work papers include all information
received by the auditor, including names of informants and untruthful
statements, if untruthful statements were made to the auditor.  Making
these work papers accessible to the public may cause misinformation or
allow people to take   information out of context, which may be used to
attack or harass public officials.  Consequently,  public officials  are
concerned that the use of out of context information may place political
pressure on the auditor to not perform an attested audit.  House Bill 1861
exempts an audit working paper of an auditor of a political subdivision
from the provisions relating to the availability of  public information. 

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. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1861 amends the Government Code to provide that an audit working
paper of an auditor of a political subdivision is excepted from provisions
relating to the availability of public information if the audit is
conducted in accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as
prescribed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the
Governmental Accounting Standards Board, the United States General
Accounting Office, or another professionally recognized entity that
prescribes auditing standards. 


EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.