HBA-SEP H.B. 1872 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1872
By: Solis, Jim
State Affairs
3/14/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law requires the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to prepare, at
the request of a state agency, a local employment impact statement
(statement) for a proposed rule that may affect a local economy.  TWC has
assigned the task of preparing these statements to its Labor Market
Information Department (LMI), which is federally funded for specific
activities.  Most statements are not burdensome, however, the rule changes
that do result in a substantial employment impact cause LMI to expend
federal funds for this purpose.  In addition, LMI lacks the resources to
perform a thorough analysis which can require the services of many
professionals not employed by LMI such as engineers, environmental
scientists, geologists, and health specialists.  The agency proposing the
rule change may be better equipped than TWC to analyze and describe such
changes.  House Bill 1872 requires the state agency proposing the rule to
prepare a local impact statement on determining that a proposed rule may
affect a local economy. 

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 1872 amends the Government Code to require a state agency, on
determining that a proposed rule may affect a local economy, to prepare a
local employment impact statement.  The bill removes provisions requiring
the Texas Workforce Commission to prepare, on request from a state agency,
a local impact statement for a proposed rule that may affect a local
economy and provisions requiring a state agency to designate a liaison to
furnish requested information during the preparation of the local impact
statement.    

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.