LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                                     Austin, Texas

                                     FISCAL NOTE
                               74th Regular Session

                                  May 22, 1995

TO:	Honorable Ken Armbrister, Chair               IN RE:  House Bill No. 1718, 
	Committee on State Affairs                             as engrossed
	Senate                                            By: Turner, Sylvester
	Austin, Texas			              		
		
	                           REVISED

FROM: John Keel, Director
   
In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No. 1718 (
relating to the revision of the open records law) this office has 
determined the following:

The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for 
an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.

The bill would make various changes to the open records law.   Among these 
changes the bill would require the Office of the Attorney General's Open 
Government Section, which is responsible for addressing requests for open 
records decisions, to answer all requests for such decisions within 60 
working days of the request, with an extension of an additional 20 working 
days upon notification by the Attorney General of the reason for the 
delay.  The Attorney General received approximately 1,819 requests for 
"informal" open records letter rulings in 1994 and currently maintains a 
caseload of approximately 1,000 such requests.  The Attorney General 
projects the volume of requests for open records letter rulings to 
increase from 25 percent to 35 percent per year.

The average open records letter takes the Office of the Attorney General 
about six months to complete.  The bill would require the Attorney 
General's Office to answer the requests within 80 working days, as opposed 
to the current average 134 working days (six months).

The fiscal implications from other provisions of the bill cannot be 
determined.

The probable fiscal implication of implementing the provisions of the bill 
during each of the first  five years following passage is estimated as 
follows:

Fiscal Year	Probable Cost Out of  
                   General Revenue Fund 001
1996	$577,688
1997	557,113
1998	557,113
1999	557,113
2000	557,113




Similar annual fiscal implications would continue as long as the 
provisions of the bill are in effect.

The fiscal implication to  units of local government cannot be determined.


Source: Office of the Attorney General
  LBB Staff: JK, DF