BILL ANALYSIS


                                                         S.B. 366
                                                   By: Armbrister
                                                    State Affairs
                                                          3-21-95
                                       Committee Report (Amended)
BACKGROUND

The Sunset Commission made a number of recommendations for the
continuation of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
(commission).  These suggestions included cataloguing, indexing,
and providing access to electronic information; allowing local
governments to adopt generic record retention schedules developed
by the commission; reducing the duties of the Local Government
Records Committee; and replacing the Records Management and
Preservation Advisory Committee with an interagency coordinating
council.

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.B. 366 sets forth the duties and responsibilities of
the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, including the
commission's involvement with the management of governmental
records, and establishes the Local Government Records Committee and
the Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is granted
to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in SECTION 6
(Section 441.006(a)(15), Government Code), SECTION 8 (Section
441.0073, Chapter 441A, Government Code), and SECTION 9 (Section
441.0091(b)(3), Chapter 441A, Government Code) of this bill.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1. Amends Section 441.001, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.001.  COMMISSION; MEMBERS.  (a) Requires all six
     members of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
     (commission) to be representatives of the general public. 
     Sets forth the circumstances under which a person is
     ineligible because of the activities of the person or the
     person's spouse.
     
     (b)-(c) Make no changes.
       
       (d) Makes nonsubstantive changes.
       
       (e) Prohibits a person from serving as a commission member
       or acting as the general counsel if the person is required
       to register as a lobbyist because of the person's activities
       for compensation on behalf of a profession related to the
       operation of the commission.
       
       (f)-(g) Prohibit an officer, employee, or paid consultant of
       a Texas trade association in certain fields, or the spouse
       of the officer, manager or paid consultant from being a
       commission member or an employee of the commission who is
       exempt from the state's position classification plan or is
       compensated at or above the amount prescribed by the General
       Appropriations Act.  Make conforming changes.
       
       (h) Defines "Texas trade association."
       
       (i) Sets forth circumstances that are grounds for removal
       from the commission.
       
       (j) Created from existing Subsection (g).
       
       (k) Requires the director and librarian to notify the
       presiding officer of the commission, or the next highest
       officer if the situation involves the presiding officer, if
       a potential ground for removal exists.  Requires the
       presiding officer to then notify the governor and the
       attorney general that a potential ground for removal exists.
       
       (l) Redesignates existing Subsection (h).
       
       (m) Requires the governor, rather than the members, to
       designate a member as the presiding officer to serve at the
       governor's pleasure.
       
       (n) Prohibits a member from receiving compensation for
       services as a member.  Entitles a member to reimbursement
       for activities incurred in connection with the performance
       of those services, subject to limits on reimbursement.
       
       (o) Redesignates existing Subsection (k) and makes
       conforming changes.
       
       (p) Requires the commission to develop policies that provide
       the public, rather than a member, with an opportunity to
       appear before the commission and to speak on any appropriate
       jurisdiction.
       
       (q) Redesignates existing Subsection (l) and provides that
       the commission is abolished September 1, 2007, rather than
       1995.
SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 441A, Government Code, by adding Section
441.0011, as follows:

     Sec. 441.0011.  TRAINING FOR COMMISSION MEMBERS.  (a) Requires
     a member to complete at least one course of an approved
     training course before assuming member duties or senate
     confirmation.
     
     (b) Sets forth required information for a training program.
       
     SECTION 3.     Amends Section 441.002, Government Code, by adding
Subsections (j) and (k), as follows:

     (j) Requires the commission to develop and implement policies
     that separate the policy-making responsibilities of the
     commission and the management responsibilities of the director
     and librarian and staff of the commission.
     
     (k) Requires the commission to comply with federal and state
     laws related to program and facility accessibility.  Requires
     the director and librarian to prepare a plan that describes
     how a non-English speaking person can gain access to the
     commission's program.
SECTION 4. Amends Section 441.004, Government Code, to require the
intra-agency career ladder program to post all positions, rather
than excluding entry level positions, concurrently with any public
posting, rather than before public posting.  Makes nonsubstantive
changes.

SECTION 5. Amends Section 441.005, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.005.  (a) Requires the director and librarian or a
     designee, rather than the commission, to provide to the
     commission members and to commission employees information
     regarding their qualification for office or employment under
     this chapter and their responsibilities relating to standards
     of conduct for state officers or employees.
     
     (b) Requires the director and librarian, or a designee,
       rather than the commission, to prepare a written policy
       statement to assure implementation of a program of equal
       employment opportunity.  Sets forth requirements for the
       policy statement.
       
       (c) Requires the statement to cover an annual period, be
       updated annually, be reviewed by the Commission on Human
       Rights, and be filed with the governor's office.
       
       (d) Requires the governor's office to deliver a biennial
       report, either separately or as part of other biennial
       reports, to the legislature based on the statement.  Deletes
       existing requirements for the statement and for its report
       to the governor.
SECTION 6. Amends Section 441.006(a), Government Code, to include
establishing, by rule, methods by which consumers and service
recipients are notified of the name, address, and phone number of
the commission for the purpose of directing complaints to the
commission in the list of required activities for the commission. 
Makes conforming and nonsubstantive changes.

SECTION 7. Amends Sections 441.007(d) and (e), Government Code, as
follows:

     (d) Requires the commission to keep information about each
     complaint filed and sets forth required contents of the
     information.
     
     (e) Requires the commission to keep a file about each written
     complaint filed with the commission that it has authority to
     resolve.  Requires the commission to provide to the person
     filing the complaint and the persons or entities complained
     about the commission's policies pertaining to investigation
     and resolution.  Requires the commission to notify all parties
     of the status of the complaint at least quarterly and until
     final disposition of the complaint, with an exception.
SECTION 8. Amends Chapter 441A, Government Code, by adding Sections
441.0071-441.0074, as follows:

     Sec. 441.0071.  CERTIFICATE RENEWAL.  (a) Authorizes a person
     to renew an unexpired certificate by paying the required
     renewal fee to the commission before the expiration date of
     the certificate.  Prohibits a person with an expired
     certificate from engaging in activities that require a
     certificate until it has been renewed.
     
     (b) Authorizes a person to renew a certificate if the
       person's certificate has been expired for 90 days or less by
       paying one and one-half times the renewal fee.
       
       (c) Authorizes a person to renew a certificate if the
       person's certificate has been expired for a time between 90
       days and one year by paying twice the renewal fee.
       
       (d) Prohibits a person from renewing a certificate if the
       person's certificate has been expired for over one year. 
       Authorizes the person to obtain a new certificate by
       complying with certain requirements.
       
       (e) Authorizes a person to renew an expired certificate if
       the person held a certificate in this state, moved to
       another state, and currently holds a certificate and has
       been in practice in the other state for two years preceding
       application.  Requires the person to pay twice the renewal
       fee.
       
       (f) Requires the commission to send written notice of the
       impending certificate expiration to the person at the
       person's last known address at least 30 days before the
       expiration of a person's certificate.
     Sec. 441.0072.  CERTIFICATES FROM OTHER STATES.  Authorizes
     the commission to waive any prerequisite to obtaining a
     certificate after determining that the applicant holds a
     certificate from another state that has substantially
     equivalent requirements.
     
     Sec. 441.0073. CERTIFICATE EXPIRATION DATES.  Requires the
     commission, by rule, to adopt a system under which
     certificates expire on various dates during the year. 
     Requires fees to be prorated on a monthly basis for the year
     in which the expiration date is changed.  Provides that on
     renewal of the certificate after the new expiration date, the
     total fee is payable. 
     
     Sec. 441.0074.  DISCIPLINARY ACTIONS.  Entitles a person to a
     hearing conducted by the State Office of Administrative
     Hearings if the commission proposes to suspend, revoke, or
     refuse to renew the person's certificate.  Provides that
     proceedings for a disciplinary action are governed by the
     administrative procedure law.  Prohibits rules of practice
     adopted by the commission  applicable to the proceedings for
     a disciplinary action from conflicting with rules adopted by
     the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
SECTION 9. Amends Chapter 441A, Government Code, by adding Section
441.0091, as follows:

     Sec. 441.0091.  GRANT PROGRAM FOR LOCAL LIBRARIES.  (a)
     Authorizes the commission to provide for grants to meet
     information needs of residents and local libraries that are
     not adequately addressed under Subchapter I or other law.
     
     (b) Authorizes the commission, in designing the grant program,
     to consider federal law and funding priorities and include
     competitive grants, and requires the commission to adopt, by
     rule, the guidelines for awarding grants.
SECTION 10.    Amends Chapter 441A, Government Code, by adding
Section 441.0105, as follows:

     Sec. 441.0105.  RIGHT OF RECOVERY.  (a) Authorizes the
     governing body of a state agency to demand and receive from
     any person any state government record (record) in private
     possession the removal of which was not authorized by law.
     
     (b) Authorizes the director and librarian to demand and
       receive from any person any record of permanent value in
       private possession.
       
       (c) Authorizes the director and librarian or the governing
       body of a state agency to ask the attorney general to
       petition a Travis County district court for the recovery of
       the record if the person in possession of the record refuses
       to deliver the record on demand.  Requires the court to
       order the return of the record to state custody if the
       record is a state government record.  Authorizes the
       attorney general to petition to have the record seized if
       the director and librarian or a governing body finds the
       record is in danger of being destroyed, altered, or removed
       from the state.
       
       (d) Requires a record recovered as the result of a petition
       to be transferred to the commission or other state agency's
       custody for which the return was demanded.
       
       (e) Requires the court to award attorney's fees and court
       costs to the prevailing party, if the attorney general
       petitions a court for the recovery of a record and prevails.
       
       (f) Defines "state agency."
SECTION 11.    Amends Section 441.012(b), Government Code, to make
conforming changes.

SECTION 12.    Amends Section 441.013, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.013.  New heading:  REPORTS.  (a)-(b) Make conforming
     changes.
     
     (c) Requires the director and librarian to prepare annually
       a written report accounting for all funds received and
       disbursed by the commission during the preceding fiscal
       year.  Requires the report to meet the financial reporting
       requirements provided in the General Appropriations Act.
       
SECTION 13.    Amends Chapter 441A, Government Code, by adding
Section 441.017, as follows:

     Sec. 441.017.  COST RECOVERY FOR RECORDS STORAGE SERVICES. 
     (a) Sets forth records to which this record does or does not
     apply.
     
     (b) Requires the commission to establish and keep current a
       cost recovery schedule for its records storage services
       (services).  Requires the schedule to show the total cost to
       the commission of its services.
       
       (c) Requires each agency that uses the commission's services
       during a state fiscal biennium to send to the commission an
       estimate of the amount and nature of the services the agency
       will use.  Requires the commission to prescribe the method
       for creating and submitting the estimate.
       
       (d) Requires the commission to base its legislative
       appropriations request for providing services to other
       agencies based on the estimates.  Sets forth requirements
       for the commission's appropriations request.
       
       (e) Authorizes the legislature to appropriate money to pay
       the commission's costs in providing services for an agency
       to the commission or to the agency directly.
       
       (f) Defines "agency."
SECTION 14.    Amends Section 441.053, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.053.  New heading:  RECORDS MANAGEMENT INTERAGENCY
     COORDINATING COUNCIL.  (a) Replaces the Records Management and
     Preservation Advisory Committee with the Records Management
     Interagency Coordinating Council (council) and sets forth the
     persons composing the council, including the director and
     librarian, rather than the state archivist.  Deletes from the
     list of council members the executive head or departmental
     supervisor of certain state departments and agencies.
     
     (b) Provides that the position of presiding officer rotates
       among the council members and sets forth the duration of a
       term.
       
       (c) Provides that council service is an additional duty of
       a member's office or employment.  Makes conforming changes.
       
       (d) Subjects the council to the open meetings law.
       
       (e) Requires the council's member agencies to provide the
       council staff.
       
       (f) Sets forth requirements for the council.
       
       (g) Requires the council to adopt policies, using the
       prescribed rulemaking procedures, that coordinate the
       activities of each member agency and that make other
       improvements in the state's management of records.
       
       (h) Requires each member agency to adopt the policies under
       Subsection (g) as the member agency's own rules, with an
       exception.
       
       (i) Requires each member agency to report on its adoption
       and implementation of rules within a certain time period.
       
       (j) Defines "member agency."
SECTION 15.    Amends Section 441.101(4), Government Code, to
redefine "state publication."

SECTION 16.    Amends Section 441.102, Government Code, to require
the commission to establish a system to allow electronic access at
the Texas State Library (library) and other depository libraries to
state publications in an electronic format that have been made
available to the public.

SECTION 17.    Amends Section 441.103, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.103.  STATE AGENCY DUTIES.  (a) Requires a
     publications contact person to maintain a record of the
     agency's state publications and to furnish to the library a
     list of the agency's new state publications as they become
     available, rather than monthly.
     
     (b) Makes a nonsubstantive change.
       
       (c) Requires a state agency to provide certain information
       to the library on the release of a state publication in an
       electronic format and for further distribution.
       
       (d) Requires a state agency to provide the library with at
       least one free on-line connection to the agency's state
       publications that can be accessed on-line if the agency is
       allowing public on-line access to a state publication.  Sets
       forth requirements for the connection.
     SECTION 18.    Amends Section 441.104, Government Code, to add
indexing all electronically formatted state publications in an
electronic format, providing on-line access to state publications
that can be accessed on-line, and providing other depository
libraries appropriate access to electronically formatted state
publications to the list of the library's required duties.

SECTION 19.    Amends Section 441.105, Government Code, to exempt
a distribution format from this subchapter.

SECTION 20.    Amends Sections 441.122(1) and (11), Government
Code, to redefine "accreditation of libraries" and "major resource
system."

SECTION 21.    Amends Chapter 441I, Government Code, by adding
Section 441.1271, as follows:

     Sec. 441.1271.  EXTENDING MEMBERSHIP OF MAJOR RESOURCE SYSTEMS
     TO CERTAIN NONPUBLIC LIBRARIES. (a) Authorizes a major
     resource system (system) to extend its membership to include
     libraries that are not public libraries and that are operated
     by certain entities.
     
     (b) Sets forth requirements for the decision to extend
       system membership. 
       
       (c) Sets forth requirements for a library that is a type of
       library to which a system has extended its membership.
       
       (d) Authorizes the commission to terminate the system
       membership of a library that is not a public library and
       that joined a system if the library fails to meet certain
       standards or obligations.
       
       (e) Requires a library that is not a public library that
       joins a system to provide benefits to the public through its
       membership in the system that are sufficient to constitute
       fair value in exchange for the benefits received through its
       membership.
       
       (f) Authorizes a system that has extended its membership to
       some but not all of the types of libraries described by
       Subsection (a) to extend its membership to one or more of
       the remaining types of libraries described by Subsection
       (a).  Requires a decision to be made and approved in the
       manner prescribed for a decision.
SECTION 22.    Amends Section 441.158, Government Code, by amending
Subsection (d) and adding Subsection (f), as follows:

     (d) Requires a records retention schedule to be reviewed,
     rather than approved, by the local government records
     committee (committee), rather than by a majority of the
     members.
     
     (f) Requires the initial schedule to be adopted by January 2,
     1996.  Provides that this subsection expires January 5, 1999.
SECTION 23.    Amends Section 441.162(b), Government Code, to
replace existing requirements for the composition of the committee.

SECTION 24.    Amends Section 441.163, Government Code, as follows:

     Sec. 441.163.  APPOINTMENT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT RECORDS
     COMMITTEE; COMPENSATION.  (a)-(b) Make conforming changes. 
     
     (c) Requires a nomination to include a nominee who resides
       in a county with a population of more than 10,000 and a
       nominee who resides in a county with a population of fewer
       than 10,000 or a municipality or district that does not
       extend into a county with a population of 10,000 or more.
       
       (d) Requires the director and librarian to appoint a nominee
       after the 30th day after the date the notice is published
       under Subsection (b) or an officer chosen by the director
       and librarian, if there are no nominees.
       
       (e) Requires the director and librarian to appoint members
       to give representation to all geographical regions of the
       state, rather than giving preference to a nomination
       received from organizations whose membership consists
       primarily of the type of officer to be nominated.
       
       (f) Makes conforming changes.
       
       (g) Deletes a provision requiring expenses of the district
       judge to be paid from council funds.
       
       (h) Requires the committee members to elect a presiding
       officer, rather than providing that the district judge is
       chairman, at the first meeting held by newly appointed or
       reappointed members within a certain time period.  Requires
       the director and librarian to call that first meeting.
       
       SECTION 25.  Amends Section 441.164(a), Government Code, to
delete a provision authorizing initial committee members to be
appointed for terms of less than two years.

SECTION 26.    Amends Section 202.004, Local Government Code, as
follows:

     Sec. 202.004.  New heading:  ALIENATION OF RECORDS.  (a)
     Authorizes a local government record to be sold or donated,
     loaned, transferred, or otherwise passed out of the custody of
     a local government to any public institution of higher
     education, public museum, public library, or other public
     entity after the expiration of the record's retention period
     under the local government's records control schedule.
     
     (b) Makes a conforming and a nonsubstantive change.
       
       (c) Authorizes a records management officer or custodian to
       temporarily transfer a local government record for records
       management and preservation procedures.
SECTION 27.    Amends Sections 203.041(a)-(c) and (h), Local
Government Code, as follows:

     (a) Requires the records and management officer to prepare and
     file with the director and librarian by January 4, 1999,
     rather than January 2, 1995, a written declaration that the
     governing body of the local government or an elected county
     officer has adopted appropriate records retention schedules
     for use in the records management program of the local
     government or elective county office.  Redesignates existing
     text.
     
     (b) Authorizes a records control schedule that is not
     identical to applicable commission records retention schedules
     to also list and provide retention periods for material that
     is excluded from the definition of a local government record
     and exempted records under certain circumstances.
     
     (c) Authorizes a records control schedule that is identical to
     applicable commission records retention schedules to be
     amended so that it is no longer identical to the commission
     schedules.  Requires the amended schedule to be prepared and
     filed for acceptance with the director and librarian in the
     same manner as other amended records control schedules. 
     Deletes provisions authorizing the director and librarian to
     extend the deadline.
     
     (h) Makes conforming changes.
     
SECTION 28.  Amends Section 203.042(a), Local Government Code, to
require the decision to adopt a records control schedule that is
identical to applicable commission records retention schedules or
the length of the retention period for each record on a records
control schedule that is not identical to applicable commission
records retention schedules to be determined under the direction of
the governing body or by the elected county officer.

SECTION 29.    Amends Sections 203.043(a)-(c), Local Government
Code, as follows:

     (a)  Makes conforming changes.
     
     (b) Requires the schedule or amended schedule to be corrected
     and resubmitted or the appropriate records retention schedules
     to be adopted as the records control schedule and the written
     declaration to be submitted if the director and librarian or
     a designee rejects the records control schedule, amended
     schedule, or written declaration for filing.
     
     (c) Authorizes the director and librarian or a designee to
     reject a written declaration for filing only if the local
     government or elected county officer did not adopt the
     appropriate records retention schedules.
SECTION 30.    Amends Sections 203.045(a)-(c), Local Government
Code, to make conforming changes.

SECTION 31.    Repealer:  Chapter 481P, Government Code (Grants-In-Aid to Libraries).

SECTION 32.    (a) Requires the State Council on Competitive
Government (state council) to study the microfilming and services
performed by the commission that are also commercially available to
determine whether state government should procure those services
competitively from private sources, from the commission and other
public sources, or from both.

     (b) Requires the state council to include in its study the
     commission's document destruction services but not include the
     commission's preservation microfilming services.
     
     (c) Requires the state council to complete its study before
     September 1, 1997.
     
     (d) Authorizes the state council to direct that state agencies
     procure competitively some or all of the studied services from
     private sources, from the commission and other public sources,
     or from both.
SECTION 33.    Makes application of this Act prospective.

SECTION 34.    (a) Requires the commission, in establishing the
system under Subchapter G, for public electronic access at the
library and other depository libraries to state publications in an
electronic format, to phase in the system over a four-year period
beginning September 1, 1995 and establish the system using existing
state agency electronic networks to minimize costs.

     (b) Requires state agencies to cooperate with the commission
     in establishing the system.
SECTION 35.    (a) Provides that the Records Management and
Preservation Advisory Committee is abolished.

     (b) Provides that all property and records of the committee
     become the records of the council.
     
     (c) Provides that a reference in law to the advisory committee
     is a reference to the council.
     
     (d) Provides that the commission director and librarian is the
     first presiding officer of the council.
SECTION 36.    (a) Provides that the terms of committee members who
hold their positions immediately before the effective date of this
Act expire on that date.  Requires the director and librarian of
the commission to appoint members to the committee for terms
expiring February 1, 1997.  Requires the director and librarian to
call the first meeting of the committee members after all members
have been appointed.

     (b) Provides that any rules, schedules, or revisions of rules
     or schedules that are pending before the committee for
     approval on the effective date of this Act are no longer
     subject to the committee's approval.  Requires the committee
     to review and comment on the rules, schedules, or revisions.
SECTION 37.    Effective date: September 1, 1995.

SECTION 38.    Emergency clause.