HBA-TBM H.B. 2873 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2873 By: Uher County Affairs 4/1/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Under current law, a county or district clerk is authorized to charge a fee of $1 per page for copies of public records maintained in a paper format or reproduced in a paper format. The law does not establish a clear fee for non-paper copies of records maintained in non-paper format, such as microfilm or an electronic format, since these documents may or may not consist of a number of pages. Many county and district clerks store or record public records in non-paper formats and are asked to produce copies of these records in various forms. For these reasons fees for copies of public records vary throughout the state. House Bill 2873 standardizes the fees charged for copies of public records produced in paper or other formats. 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 2873 amends the Government Code to provide that the charge for providing a paper copy made by a district or county clerk's office is required to be the fee provided by existing law governing fees charged by county officers, county clerks, or other applicable law. The bill requires a county clerk who provides a copy in a format other than paper of a record maintained by the clerk to provide the copy and charge a fee in accordance with applicable General Service Commission rules. EFFECTIVE DATE On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2001.