BILL ANALYSIS S.B. 1492 By: Shapiro (Lewis, Glenn) May 10, 1995 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND Municipalities currently perform audits of local hotels to confirm compliance of state law relating to the collection of local hotel occupancy taxes. The State of Texas, through the Comptroller of Public Accounts, also conducts similar audits to confirm compliance of state law relating to the state's portion of the hotel occupancy taxes. Section 111.006, Tax Code, provides for confidentiality of information obtained by the Comptroller or Attorney General in collection procedures. This prohibits the State from sharing audited hotel financial information with municipalities even though the municipalities and state auditors are reviewing the same records and financial information at the different hotel sites. This duplication of auditing effort could be eliminated if the state law allows for the sharing of information between state and local governments recognizing that the confidential nature of the financial records of a hotel need to be maintained. PURPOSE The purpose of this bill is to allow the Comptroller of Public Accounts or the Attorney General to share audit information with municipalities and counties for the purpose of ascertaining compliance with the collection of hotel occupancy tax by hotels. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 111.006 (Confidentiality of Information) by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (d) as follows: (a) Provides for an exception to confidentiality under Subsection (d). (d) Allows the comptroller or attorney general to disclose audit information to counties or municipalities for the purpose of enforcing compliance with the hotel occupancy tax. The request for information must be in writing, and the information shall be kept confidential in accordance with the provisions of this section. SECTION 2. Effective date: September 1, 1995 SECTION 3. Emergency clause SUMMARY OF COMMITTEE ACTION On May 9, 1995, the committee met in a public hearing and considered S.B. 1492. By a record vote of 7 ayes, 0 nays, 0 present not voting and 4 absent, the committee voted to report S.B. 1492 to the House without amendment with the recommendation that it be sent to the Local and Consent Calendar and that it do pass.