IMF S.B. 784 75(R) BILL ANALYSIS STATE AFFAIRS S.B. 784 By: Barrientos (Goolsby) 5-9-97 Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND The Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission, in its December 1996 report to the 75th Legislature recommended that the TIPC would be better used by state agencies if the state eliminated the requirement that state agencies give back funds saved by TIPC programs and allow state agencies to use these savings for reinvestment. The TIPC also recommended that the TIPC be funded from other state agency funds by number of employees. PURPOSE As proposed, S.B 784 would effectively place the TIPC's recommendations into law. It would add two state agency executive director to the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission (TIPC). The bill also changes the way the legislature appropriate funding for the TIPC by requiring other agencies to fund the TIPC from their appropriations. The bill also allows state employees to make suggestions to the TIPC by fax or electronic mail. Finally, this bill allows state agencies to keep savings earned from productivity changes by requiring the comptroller to create accounts for the agencies that can be used by the agencies to continue to improve productivity. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill grants rulemaking authority to the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission in SECTIONS 2, 4, and 6 (Sections 2108.004, 2108.022, and 2108.029 Government Code) of this Act. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 2108.003 of the Government Code by amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsection (e) as follows: Section 2108.003 (a) adds a state agency executive director appointed by the governor and a state agency executive director appointed by the governor that has participated in a program of the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission to the Texas Incentive and Productivity Commission. Section 2108.003 (e) provides that the appointed executive director serve two year staggered terms on the TIPC. SECTION 2. Amends Section 2108.004 (b) of the Government Code to allow TIPC to promulgate rules related to this chapter and to provide for the efficient operation of the State Employee Incentive program and the Productivity Bonus Program. SECTION 3. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 2108 of the Government Code by adding Sections 2108.008, 2108.009, and 2108.010 as follows: Section 2108.008 requires the legislature to appropriate money for the operation of the TIPC by providing that each state agency shall pay a portion of their appropriation based on the number of employees in the agency to the TIPC. Section 2108.009 requires every state agency eligible to participate in the state employee incentive program or the productivity bonus program to include in its legislative appropriation request (LAR) performance measures for the number of employee suggestions submitted and approved. Section 2108.010 allows the TIPC to refer to their programs by different names and allow other state agencies to do the same. SECTION 4. Amends Section 2108.022 of the Government Code by adding Subsection (c) that allows the TIPC to promulgate rules to allow state agencies to communicate by fax or by electronic mail. This Subsection also allows the TIPC to allow a state employee to submit suggestions by electronic mail without requiring a signature. SECTION 5. Amends Section 2108.026 (a) of the Government Code with a conforming change. SECTION 6. Amends Section 2108.029 (c) to allow an agency coordinator to give an employee who makes a suggestion "information about" TIPC rules instead of a copy of the rules. SECTION 7. Amends Section 2108.037 of the Government Code as follows: Section 2108.037 (b) requires the comptroller to take any funds saved by a state agency due to participation in a TIPC program into an incentive reinvestment account. Money in this account may only be appropriated to the agency to pay bonuses granted by the TIPC, to pay for employee training, or for capital expenditures by the agency that will increase productivity at the agency. (c) makes a conforming change. SECTION 8. Amends Section 2108.101 (3) of the Government Code to redefine "state agency" to include the office of the governor and institutions of higher education. SECTION 9. Amends Section 2108.104 of the Government Code by adding Subsection (d) allowing the TIPC to delegate the authority to TIPC staff to award a productivity bonus if the bonus is awarded for a TIPC approved plan. SECTION 10. Amends Sections 2108.106 (a) and (c) of the Government Code by requiring the TIPC to award 25 percent of the savings certified by the TIPC and by prohibiting an appointed or elected official from receiving an award from the TIPC. SECTION 11. Amends Section 2108.107 of the Government Code to require the comptroller to transfer the amount of savings certified by a state agency and approved by the TIPC into a productivity reinvestment account created by the comptroller. Money in this account may only be appropriated to the agency for paying bonuses awarded by the TIPC, to the agency for training employees, or to the agency for purchasing capital expenditures that may increase productivity at the agency. SECTION 12. Amends Section 2108.108 (a) of the Government Code to require the TIPC to compare the expenditures of a state agency participating in a TIPC program as soon as possible after an agency certifies savings under the program. SECTION 13. Repeals Sections 2108.038 and 2108.109 of the Government Code that created a special fund and a productivity bonus fund for TIPC savings. SECTION 14. Requires the comptroller to transfer any funds in an agency's productivity bonus account into a productivity reinvestment account, and transfer any funds in the TIPC's productivity bonus account into the General Revenue Fund. SECTION 15. Requires the governor to appoint the two new executive director spots on the TIPC as soon as possible after the effective date of this Act. SECTION 16. Effective date: September 1, 1997. SECTION 17. Emergency clause.