By Naishtat H.B. No. 2619
75R6522 MLS-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the creation of the Advisory Board of Information
1-3 Technology for the Blind and the accessibility of information
1-4 technology by the blind.
1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-6 SECTION 1. Title 5, Human Resources Code, is amended by
1-7 adding Chapter 95 to read as follows:
1-8 CHAPTER 95. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE BLIND
1-9 SUBCHAPTER A. GENERAL PROVISIONS
1-10 Sec. 95.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-11 (1) "Blind" means a person having not more than 20/200
1-12 visual acuity in the better eye with correcting lenses or visual
1-13 acuity greater than 20/200 but with a limitation in the field of
1-14 vision such that the widest diameter of the visual field subtends
1-15 an angle no greater than 20 degrees.
1-16 (2) "Board" means the Advisory Board of Information
1-17 Technology for the Blind.
1-18 (3) "Information resources technology" means data
1-19 processing and telecommunications hardware, software, services,
1-20 supplies, personnel, facility resources, maintenance, and training.
1-21 (4) "State agency" means a department, commission,
1-22 board, office, council, or other agency in the executive or
1-23 judicial branch of state government that is created by the
1-24 constitution or a statute of this state, including a university
2-1 system or an institution of higher education as defined by Section
2-2 61.003, Education Code.
2-3 Sec. 95.002. LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS; INTENT. (a) The
2-4 legislature finds that:
2-5 (1) the advent of the information age throughout the
2-6 United States and around the world has resulted in changes in
2-7 information resources technology;
2-8 (2) the use of interactive visual display terminals by
2-9 state agencies is becoming a widespread means of access for
2-10 employees of these agencies and the public to obtain information;
2-11 (3) nonvisual access to information resources
2-12 technology has been overlooked by state agencies in the purchasing
2-13 and use of information resources technology;
2-14 (4) the presentation of electronic data in only a
2-15 visual format prevents the blind from participating in many
2-16 programs offered by state agencies through the use of information
2-17 resources technology;
2-18 (5) alternatives have been created to provide for the
2-19 access of information resources technology by visual and nonvisual
2-20 means; and
2-21 (6) the state has the goal of obtaining and using the
2-22 most advanced forms of information resources technology to provide
2-23 universal access to all persons in the state.
2-24 (b) It is the policy of this state to provide the blind with
2-25 complete access to all programs offered by state agencies to state
2-26 employees and the public.
2-27 (Sections 95.003-95.020 reserved for expansion
3-1 SUBCHAPTER B. ADVISORY BOARD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
3-2 FOR THE BLIND
3-3 Sec. 95.021. COMPOSITION OF BOARD; TERMS. (a) The Advisory
3-4 Board of Information Technology for the Blind is composed of:
3-5 (1) three public members who are blind, appointed by
3-6 the governor; and
3-7 (2) two ex officio members appointed by the governor
3-8 from the following list:
3-9 (A) the executive director of the Texas
3-10 Workforce Commission or the executive director's designee;
3-11 (B) the executive director of the Texas
3-12 Commission for the Blind or the executive director's designee;
3-13 (C) the executive director of the General
3-14 Services Commission or the executive director's designee; and
3-15 (D) the executive director of the Department of
3-16 Information Resources or the executive director's designee.
3-17 (b) The public members of the board serve staggered terms of
3-18 six years with the term of one-third of the members expiring
3-19 February 1 of each odd-numbered year. The ex officio members serve
3-20 staggered terms of two years with the term of one ex officio member
3-21 expiring February 1 of each year.
3-22 Sec. 95.022. OFFICERS. The board shall select a presiding
3-23 officer from among the public members of the board and an assistant
3-24 presiding officer from among the ex officio members of the board.
3-25 Sec. 95.023. VACANCY. The governor shall appoint a board
3-26 member to fill a vacancy under the same procedure that applied to
3-27 the original appointment for that position.
4-1 Sec. 95.024. COMPENSATION. A member of the board is not
4-2 entitled to compensation but is entitled to reimbursement from
4-3 board funds for the travel expenses incurred by the member while
4-4 conducting the business of the board, as provided in the General
4-5 Appropriations Act.
4-6 Sec. 95.025. POWERS AND DUTIES. The board shall:
4-7 (1) establish general performance standards for
4-8 information resources technologies designed to provide the blind
4-9 with equivalent access to visual display devices;
4-10 (2) recommend procurement specifications for
4-11 information resources technologies based on the general performance
4-12 standards developed by the board;
4-13 (3) research and provide information to state agencies
4-14 regarding information technology that is accessible to the blind;
4-15 (4) in cooperation with the General Services
4-16 Commission and the Department of Information Resources, develop a
4-17 technology access clause under Section 2054.051, Government Code;
4-18 and
4-19 (5) evaluate specific information resources
4-20 technologies and report to the Department of Information Resources
4-21 on the quality of the technology to enable the Department of
4-22 Information Resources to develop a state strategic plan under
4-23 Section 2054.092, Government Code.
4-24 SECTION 2. Section 2054.051, Government Code, is amended by
4-25 adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
4-26 (f) The department shall, in cooperation with the General
4-27 Services Commission and the Advisory Board of Information
5-1 Technology for the Blind, develop a technology access clause for
5-2 use in contracts for the purchase of information resources
5-3 technologies. The technology access clause must require state
5-4 agencies to provide visual and nonvisual access to any new or
5-5 replacement information resources technologies purchased.
5-6 SECTION 3. Section 2054.092, Government Code, is amended to
5-7 read as follows:
5-8 Sec. 2054.092. CONTENT OF STATE STRATEGIC PLAN. The state
5-9 strategic plan must:
5-10 (1) provide a strategic direction for information
5-11 resources management in state government for the five fiscal years
5-12 following adoption of the plan;
5-13 (2) provide guidance to state agencies in the
5-14 development of the agency strategic plans;
5-15 (3) establish goals and objectives relating to
5-16 information resources management;
5-17 (4) provide long-range policy guidelines for
5-18 information resources in state government, including the
5-19 implementation of national and international standards for
5-20 information resources technologies and the acquisition of
5-21 information resources technologies that provide visual and
5-22 nonvisual access to state employees and members of the public;
5-23 (5) identify major issues relating to improved
5-24 information resources management, including the identification of
5-25 needed procurement policy initiatives to encourage competition
5-26 between providers of information resources technologies; and
5-27 (6) identify priorities for the implementation of
6-1 information resources technologies according to the relative
6-2 economic and social impact on the state.
6-3 SECTION 4. Section 2054.096, Government Code, is amended to
6-4 read as follows:
6-5 Sec. 2054.096. CONTENT OF AGENCY STRATEGIC PLAN. Each agency
6-6 strategic plan must be consistent with the state strategic plan and
6-7 include:
6-8 (1) a statement of the state agency's goals,
6-9 objectives, and programs as found in the agency's legislative
6-10 appropriations request;
6-11 (2) a description of the agency's major data bases and
6-12 their applications;
6-13 (3) a description of the agency's information
6-14 resources management organizations, policies, and practices;
6-15 (4) a description of interagency computer networks in
6-16 which the agency participates;
6-17 (5) a statement of the strategic objectives of the
6-18 agency relating to information resources management for the next
6-19 five fiscal years, beginning with the fiscal year during which the
6-20 plan is submitted, with a description of how those objectives help
6-21 achieve the agency's programs and goals, and a description of how
6-22 those objectives support and promote the goals and policies of the
6-23 state strategic plan; [and]
6-24 (6) a description of the agency's efforts to ensure
6-25 that the agency's information resources technologies are accessible
6-26 by visual and nonvisual means; and
6-27 (7) other planning components that the department may
7-1 prescribe.
7-2 SECTION 5. Subchapter F, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
7-3 amended by adding Section 2054.120 to read as follows:
7-4 Sec. 2054.120. ACCESS TO INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BY THE
7-5 BLIND. (a) A state agency shall develop or acquire information
7-6 resources that present information to the agency's employees and
7-7 the public using visual and nonvisual methods of presentation.
7-8 (b) A state agency shall provide state employees who are
7-9 blind with information resources that provide nonvisual access and
7-10 allow the user to integrate into information resources used by
7-11 other state employees.
7-12 (c) This section does not require a state agency to install
7-13 specific nonvisual access information resources equipment in an
7-14 area used by a state employee who does not require the use of the
7-15 nonvisual access information resources equipment.
7-16 SECTION 6. (a) This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
7-17 (b) As soon as possible after the effective date of this
7-18 Act, the governor shall appoint the initial members to the Advisory
7-19 Board of Information Technology for the Blind. In making the
7-20 initial appointment of the public members of the board, the
7-21 governor shall designate one member for a term expiring February 1,
7-22 1999, one member for a term expiring February 1, 2001, and one
7-23 member for a term expiring February 1, 2003. In making the initial
7-24 appointment of the ex officio members of the board, the governor
7-25 shall designate one member for a term expiring February 1, 1999,
7-26 and one member for a term expiring February 1, 2000.
7-27 SECTION 7. The importance of this legislation and the
8-1 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
8-2 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
8-3 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.