SGN H.B. 1667 75(R)BILL ANALYSIS CORRECTIONS H.B. 1667 By: Junell 4-16-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND The Texas Open Records Act, Chapter 552, Government Code, states that as a matter of policy, people should have access to information about the affairs of their government and the official acts of their public officials and employees. Although part of the Open Records Act exempts certain personal information contained in personnel files, employee evaluations and the majority of personnel files are available with the proper request. According to an Attorney General's opinion, records maintained by a community supervision and corrections department are not records of the judiciary and are therefore not exempt from the Open Records Act. Thus, employee evaluations of community supervision officers may be turned over to any person making the proper request. Such a request, and the subsequent disclosure could interfere with the effective supervision of defendants and with the proper execution of department duties. PURPOSE H.B. 1667 would clarify that the employee evaluations of community supervision officers are confidential. 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 76.006, Government Code by adding Subsection (f) to provide that a document evaluating the performance of an officer of the department who supervises defendants placed on community supervision is confidential. SECTION 2: Emergency clause.