HBA-AMW H.B. 2749 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2749
By: Jones, Elizabeth
State Affairs
3/21/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Current law protects the confidentiality of records of a member of the
legislature or the lieutenant governor that are composed exclusively of
memoranda of communications with Texas residents and of personal
information concerning the person communicating with the legislator or
lieutenant governor.  Elected county officials also receive correspondence
that often contains personal information from constituents, but the
confidentiality of these communications is not protected.  House Bill 2749
protects the confidentiality of constituent correspondence sent to an
elected county official. 

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 2749 amends the Local Government Code to provide that records of
a county official that are composed exclusively of memoranda of
communications with residents of this state and of personal information
concerning the person communicating with the county official are
confidential.  The bill authorizes the county official to disclose all or a
part of a record and provides that the disclosure does not violate these
provisions.  The bill specifies that the method used to store or maintain a
record does not affect the confidentiality of the record.   

The bill provides that the public disclosure of all or part of a written or
otherwise recorded communication from a citizen of this state received by a
county official in the county official's official capacity is prohibited
unless the citizen expressly or by clear implication authorizes the
disclosure, the communication is of a type that is expressly authorized by
statute to be disclosed, or the official determines that the disclosure
does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of the
communicator or another person.  The bill also specifies that the
provisions prohibiting public disclosure do not apply to a communication to
a county official from a public official or public employee acting in an
official capacity.  The bill authorizes a county official to elect to
disclose all or part of a communication and that the disclosure does not
violate these provisions. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.