By:  Ellis                                             S.B. No. 776
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
                                        AN ACT
    1-1  relating to the electronic collection and provision of certain
    1-2  information by the secretary of state.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Subdivisions (9) and (10), Section 3,
    1-5  Administrative Procedure and Texas Register Act (Article 6252-13a,
    1-6  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
    1-7              (9)  "Electronic means" means the transmission of data
    1-8  between word or data processors <over> either over dedicated cables
    1-9  or commercial lines or by means of computer diskette.
   1-10              <(10)  "Letter of certification" means a statement
   1-11  which specifies the type of information that has been transmitted
   1-12  by electronic means to the register and which has been signed by
   1-13  the agency's designated certifying official and agency liaison.>
   1-14        SECTION 2.  Subsection (a), Section 8, Administrative
   1-15  Procedure and Texas Register Act (Article 6252-13a, Vernon's Texas
   1-16  Civil Statutes), is amended to read as follows:
   1-17        (a)  Each agency shall file a document for publication in the
   1-18  Texas Register by either delivering to the office of the secretary
   1-19  of state during normal working hours two certified copies of the
   1-20  document to be filed or by transmitting by electronic means during
   1-21  normal working hours one copy of the document to be filed,
   1-22  including a statement of certification and the name of the agency's
   1-23  certifying official <and delivering during normal working hours a
    2-1  letter of certification to the office of the secretary of state>.
    2-2  On receipt of a document required by this Act to be filed in the
    2-3  office of the secretary of state and published in the register, the
    2-4  secretary of state shall note the day and hour of filing on the
    2-5  certified copies or on the electronic transmission <letter of
    2-6  certification>.  One copy of each filed document must be maintained
    2-7  in original form or on microfilm in a permanent register in the
    2-8  office of the secretary of state and, on filing, shall be made
    2-9  available immediately for public inspection during regular business
   2-10  hours.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  Subsection (b), Section 3A, Chapter 271, Acts of
   2-12  the 60th Legislature, Regular Session, 1967 (Article 6252-17,
   2-13  Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), are amended to read as follows:
   2-14        (b)  A State governmental body shall furnish notice to the
   2-15  Secretary of State, who shall then post the notice on a bulletin
   2-16  board to be located in the main office of the Secretary of State at
   2-17  a place convenient to the public.  The Secretary of State may
   2-18  furnish a computer monitor to provide remote electronic access to
   2-19  open meeting notices.
   2-20        SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-21  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-22  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-23  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-24  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-25  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
    3-1  passage, and it is so enacted.