By Kubiak H.B. No. 3434
75R3490 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to governmental use of information resources, including
1-3 the powers and duties of the Department of Information Resources.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. Section 2054.051, Government Code, is amended by
1-6 adding Subsection (f) to read as follows:
1-7 (f) The department shall develop guidelines for state
1-8 agencies to follow when deciding whether to lease or to purchase
1-9 information resources technologies.
1-10 SECTION 2. Subchapter C, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
1-11 amended by adding Section 2054.060 to read as follows:
1-12 Sec. 2054.060. DEPARTMENT APPROVAL OF CERTAIN PURCHASES.
1-13 Notwithstanding other law, a state agency may not spend
1-14 appropriated money to purchase information resources or to purchase
1-15 maintenance services for information resources unless the
1-16 department has approved the purchase.
1-17 SECTION 3. Section 2054.075, Government Code, is amended to
1-18 read as follows:
1-19 Sec. 2054.075. COOPERATION WITH INFORMATION RESOURCES
1-20 MANAGER. (a) Each state agency shall cooperate as necessary with
1-21 its information resources manager to enable that individual to
1-22 perform the manager's duties.
1-23 (b) Each state agency shall provide that its information
1-24 resources manager is part of the agency's executive management and
2-1 reports directly to a person with a title functionally equivalent
2-2 to executive director or deputy executive director. Each state
2-3 agency shall report to the department the extent and results of its
2-4 compliance with this subsection, and the department shall report
2-5 the extent and results of state agencies' compliance to the
2-6 legislature.
2-7 SECTION 4. Section 2054.076, Government Code, is amended to
2-8 read as follows:
2-9 Sec. 2054.076. INITIAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION. (a) The
2-10 department shall provide mandatory guidelines to state agencies
2-11 regarding the initial and continuing education requirements needed
2-12 for information resources managers.
2-13 (b) An individual who is appointed the information resources
2-14 manager of a state agency before September 1, 1992, is exempt from
2-15 the requirements of the department regarding initial education
2-16 needed for that position.
2-17 (c) The department may provide educational materials and
2-18 seminars for state agencies, state agency financial officers, and
2-19 information resources managers.
2-20 (d) The department shall conduct seminars and briefings for
2-21 information resources managers and state agency financial officers
2-22 that address information resources technologies issues that may
2-23 arise in the appropriations process.
2-24 SECTION 5. Section 2054.098(a), Government Code, is amended
2-25 to read as follows:
2-26 (a) The department shall inform a state agency whether a
2-27 plan or plan amendment is approved or disapproved by sending a
3-1 letter to the agency's information resources manager, its executive
3-2 director, and each member of its governing body. If a plan is
3-3 disapproved, the department shall provide to the state agency in
3-4 writing notice of and the reasons for disapproval and the changes
3-5 that are necessary for the plan's approval.
3-6 SECTION 6. Subchapter E, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
3-7 amended by adding Section 2054.0985 to read as follows:
3-8 Sec. 2054.0985. REQUIREMENT FOR PROJECT APPROPRIATIONS. The
3-9 legislature may not appropriate money to a state agency for an
3-10 agency project unless the project is described in the agency's
3-11 approved agency strategic plan.
3-12 SECTION 7. Section 2054.101, Government Code, is amended by
3-13 adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
3-14 (c) The department shall instruct state agencies to include
3-15 in their operating plans the extent to which proposed new systems
3-16 or substantial modifications to existing systems allow for the
3-17 sharing of information electronically within and among agencies.
3-18 The department may require agencies that acquire or modify systems
3-19 to allow for the sharing of information electronically within and
3-20 among agencies when feasible.
3-21 SECTION 8. Subchapter E, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
3-22 amended by adding Section 2054.1011 to read as follows:
3-23 Sec. 2054.1011. INFORMATION COLLECTING; BIENNIAL OPERATING
3-24 PLAN. (a) Each state agency periodically shall analyze the
3-25 information it collects from individuals, businesses, and
3-26 government and determine whether the same information is collected
3-27 by more than one unit of the agency or by another state or local
4-1 governmental entity. Each agency shall also periodically submit to
4-2 a sample of the persons from whom it collects information questions
4-3 designed to assist a determination of whether the information can
4-4 feasibly be collected in a more efficient, more effective, or less
4-5 onerous way. Using the responses to the questions and the results
4-6 of its analyses, the agency shall also analyze whether the forms
4-7 the agency uses to collect information should be revised,
4-8 simplified, reduced to one page, used by another state or local
4-9 governmental entity, or otherwise altered to reflect the
4-10 information collecting practices of another state or local
4-11 governmental entity. The agency shall summarize these analyses in
4-12 the agency's biennial operating plan.
4-13 (b) Each state agency shall indicate in its biennial
4-14 operating plan the extent to which it is coordinating its
4-15 collection of information with other state and local governmental
4-16 entities.
4-17 SECTION 9. Section 2054.102, Government Code, is amended to
4-18 read as follows:
4-19 Sec. 2054.102. EVALUATION OF OPERATING PLANS BY DEPARTMENT.
4-20 (a) The department shall specify procedures for the submission,
4-21 review, approval, and disapproval of plans and amendments,
4-22 including procedures for review or reconsideration of the
4-23 department's disapproval of a plan or plan amendment.
4-24 (b) The department shall inform a state agency whether a
4-25 plan or plan amendment is approved or disapproved by sending a
4-26 letter to the agency's information resources manager, its executive
4-27 director, and each member of its governing body.
5-1 SECTION 10. Subchapter E, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
5-2 amended by adding Section 2054.105 to read as follows:
5-3 Sec. 2054.105. NOTIFICATION OF NONCOMPLIANCE. The
5-4 department shall notify the governor, the state auditor, and the
5-5 Legislative Budget Board when an agency is not complying with a
5-6 provision of this subchapter.
5-7 SECTION 11. Subchapter F, Chapter 2054, Government Code, is
5-8 amended by adding Sections 2054.120-2054.124 to read as follows:
5-9 Sec. 2054.120. PROJECT PLANNING, MONITORING, AND EVALUATION.
5-10 (a) A state agency that proposes to spend appropriated money for a
5-11 project shall first define in writing the expected results of the
5-12 project.
5-13 (b) The state agency shall monitor costs while the project
5-14 is developed and implemented.
5-15 (c) The department shall monitor and independently evaluate
5-16 the planning and development of the project and periodically inform
5-17 the legislative audit committee of the department's evaluation.
5-18 (d) After the project is implemented, the state agency shall
5-19 evaluate in writing the extent to which the expected benefits of
5-20 the project were achieved. The agency shall send its evaluation and
5-21 supporting documentation to the state auditor. The state auditor
5-22 shall review the evaluation for validity and inform the legislative
5-23 audit committee of the auditor's determination.
5-24 Sec. 2054.121. CONTRACT AMENDMENTS. (a) A state agency
5-25 shall analyze a proposed amendment to an information resources or
5-26 information resources technologies contract before agreeing to the
5-27 amendment to determine if the contract amendment is advantageous
6-1 for the agency.
6-2 (b) If the state agency does not possess the necessary
6-3 expertise to analyze the amendment, the agency shall contract with
6-4 another agency or with a private consultant to analyze the
6-5 amendment. Section 2054.119 does not apply to a contract with
6-6 another agency under this subsection, and an agency shall give
6-7 preference to another agency that offers to analyze the amendment
6-8 if the department states that the other agency has the necessary
6-9 expertise.
6-10 (c) Before a state agency agrees to a contract amendment for
6-11 a project that will increase the cost of the project by at least 10
6-12 percent:
6-13 (1) the department must approve the amendment; and
6-14 (2) the state agency must inform the governor,
6-15 lieutenant governor, speaker of the house of representatives,
6-16 senate finance committee, and house appropriations committee of the
6-17 proposed amendment.
6-18 Sec. 2054.122. INTERAGENCY AND OTHER INTERGOVERNMENTAL
6-19 ELECTRONIC SHARING OF INFORMATION. (a) All state agencies within
6-20 a functional area of state government established under Section
6-21 2056.006 shall investigate together the possibilities of sharing
6-22 information, to the extent allowed by other law, among the agencies
6-23 electronically. Agencies within a functional area shall create an
6-24 interagency work group to create common standards and conventions
6-25 for sharing information electronically under appropriate controls
6-26 for privacy, security, accuracy, and, when applicable,
6-27 confidentiality.
7-1 (b) The department shall assist the interagency work groups
7-2 and when appropriate approve in accordance with Section 2054.051(e)
7-3 the provisions that a work group makes for sharing information
7-4 under this section.
7-5 (c) A state agency with an annual operating budget of more
7-6 than $100 million, and any other state agency at the direction of
7-7 the governor, shall consult counties, municipalities, and regional
7-8 councils of government about ways to share information relating to
7-9 economic development, the provision of social services, education
7-10 and training, and public safety.
7-11 (d) A state agency or agencies that propose a project
7-12 related to the interagency or intergovernmental sharing of
7-13 information must show, in the agency's or agencies' strategic plans
7-14 and operating plans under Subchapter E, why the project provides an
7-15 efficient and effective way to perform a needed function.
7-16 Sec. 2054.123. INFORMATION COLLECTING. (a) Each state
7-17 agency shall coordinate its collection of information with other
7-18 state and local governmental entities to the extent it is feasible
7-19 to do so and allowed by other law, under appropriate controls for
7-20 the privacy, security, accuracy, and, when applicable,
7-21 confidentiality of the information.
7-22 (b) Each state agency shall when feasible and appropriate
7-23 revise, simplify, reduce to one page, or otherwise alter the forms
7-24 it uses to collect information to reflect the information
7-25 collecting practices of another state or local governmental entity.
7-26 Each state agency shall when feasible and appropriate allow another
7-27 state or local governmental entity to use the agency's form or the
8-1 information that the agency collects using the form, under
8-2 appropriate controls for the privacy, security, accuracy, and, when
8-3 applicable, confidentiality of the information.
8-4 (c) Each state agency shall when appropriate and feasible
8-5 spend at least 15 percent of the money it spends collecting
8-6 information by buying the information from an entity that has
8-7 already collected it or by contracting for information collection
8-8 services outside the agency, under appropriate controls for the
8-9 privacy, security, accuracy, and, when applicable, confidentiality
8-10 of the information.
8-11 Sec. 2054.124. LEASING EXCESS CAPACITY. A state agency
8-12 shall evaluate the extent to which it is using the full capacity of
8-13 its information systems. A state agency that uses less than 60
8-14 percent of the capacity of one of its information systems shall
8-15 consider leasing the excess capacity to another state or local
8-16 governmental entity.
8-17 SECTION 12. The Department of Information Resources shall
8-18 study the state's current system of disposing of surplus and
8-19 salvage information resources technologies and report the results
8-20 of its study, including its recommendations for any needed changes
8-21 in law, to the legislature and the General Services Commission not
8-22 later than November 1, 1998.
8-23 SECTION 13. (a) Each state agency shall designate an agency
8-24 officer or employee who is responsible for coordinating the
8-25 agency's response to the problem that the approach of the year 2000
8-26 presents for certain information resources technologies. The
8-27 Department of Information Resources and the state auditor shall
9-1 coordinate the state agencies' response to the problem and shall
9-2 report periodically to the senate finance committee and the house
9-3 appropriations committee on the status of the state's response and
9-4 the estimated cost to address the problem.
9-5 (b) All state agency purchases of information resources
9-6 technologies must reasonably take into account the approach of the
9-7 year 2000.
9-8 SECTION 14. (a) The Department of Information Resources
9-9 shall study how best to create a nonprofit business entity that
9-10 could contract both with the state and with private entities and
9-11 that could perform certain public functions for the state, such as
9-12 looking at the state's future information resources technologies
9-13 needs for the purposes of promoting the state's economic
9-14 development and improving the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of
9-15 the state's delivery of government services or government
9-16 information, including, when appropriate, the reengineering of the
9-17 service delivery systems. The department's study shall include an
9-18 evaluation of how the state could pay the nonprofit entity to solve
9-19 a problem for state government and how the state could then
9-20 appropriately receive royalties when the solution the state paid
9-21 for is marketed to other entities. The department shall report the
9-22 results of its study to the governor and to the Legislative Budget
9-23 Board not later than January 30, 1998.
9-24 (b) If the Department of Information Resources determines
9-25 that an entity with the characteristics described by Subsection (a)
9-26 of this section could be created by the state, including the
9-27 characteristic that would allow the state to share royalties when a
10-1 solution the state paid to develop is marketed, the department may
10-2 create the entity in accordance with current law and may contract
10-3 with the entity to perform technical functions for the department
10-4 that the department is authorized to perform.
10-5 SECTION 15. (a) The Health and Human Services Commission,
10-6 all agencies that are health and human services agencies under
10-7 Chapter 531, Government Code, the Texas Department of Criminal
10-8 Justice, and the Texas Youth Commission shall all work together to
10-9 design a common form that each agency shall use to gather basic
10-10 demographic information about the agency's clients and service
10-11 recipients and about persons regulated by the agency. The agencies
10-12 shall design the form so that it can be entered cost-effectively
10-13 into an electronic database. The agencies shall design the database
10-14 so that the other agencies can easily search the database before
10-15 collecting demographic information about a person and so that the
10-16 information can be shared among the agencies electronically to the
10-17 extent allowed by other law. Unless required by other law, the
10-18 agencies may not recollect information on the form that one of the
10-19 agencies has collected and entered into the database.
10-20 (b) The agencies shall comply with all legal requirements
10-21 relating to the privacy, security, confidentiality, and accuracy of
10-22 the information. The agencies shall identify any state or federal
10-23 legal impediments to the efficient and effective collection and
10-24 sharing of demographic information in accordance with this section
10-25 and report the impediments to the legislature not later than
10-26 November 1, 1998.
10-27 (c) The agencies shall begin using the form and collecting
11-1 the basic demographic information on the form in accordance with
11-2 this section not later than September 1, 1998, except to the extent
11-3 that a legal impediment makes it impossible to do so.
11-4 SECTION 16. (a) The Public Utility Commission of Texas, the
11-5 Railroad Commission of Texas, the Texas Natural Resource
11-6 Conservation Commission, the General Land Office, and the secretary
11-7 of state shall all work together to design a common form that each
11-8 agency shall use to gather basic demographic information about the
11-9 agency's clients and service recipients and about persons regulated
11-10 by the agency. The agencies shall design the form so that it can be
11-11 entered cost-effectively into an electronic database. The agencies
11-12 shall design the database so that the other agencies can easily
11-13 search the database before collecting demographic information about
11-14 a person and so that the information can be shared among the
11-15 agencies electronically to the extent allowed by other law. Unless
11-16 required by other law, the agencies may not recollect information
11-17 on the form that one of the agencies has collected and entered into
11-18 the database.
11-19 (b) The agencies shall comply with all legal requirements
11-20 relating to the privacy, security, confidentiality, and accuracy of
11-21 the information. The agencies shall identify any state or federal
11-22 legal impediments to the efficient and effective collection and
11-23 sharing of demographic information in accordance with this section
11-24 and report the impediments to the legislature not later than
11-25 November 1, 1998.
11-26 (c) The agencies shall begin using the form and collecting
11-27 the basic demographic information on the form in accordance with
12-1 this section not later than September 1, 1998, except to the extent
12-2 that a legal impediment makes it impossible to do so.
12-3 SECTION 17. (a) The Texas Department of Commerce shall
12-4 obtain the right to use existing software that is affordable and
12-5 has the following characteristics:
12-6 (1) it contains information and tools that a local
12-7 community can use to promote economic development;
12-8 (2) it contains information and tools that a business,
12-9 including a small or disadvantaged business, can use to make
12-10 decisions about remaining, expanding, or relocating in a local
12-11 community;
12-12 (3) it contains information and tools that investors
12-13 can use to make decisions about investing in a local community; and
12-14 (4) it contains information and tools that
12-15 policymakers can use to examine the ways in which federal, state,
12-16 and local economic development money is or could be used in a local
12-17 community.
12-18 (b) The Texas Department of Commerce shall select five rural
12-19 and three major urban communities to participate in a pilot project
12-20 during the state fiscal year ending August 31, 1998, to demonstrate
12-21 the effectiveness and feasibility of using the software for
12-22 economic purposes. A selected community must pay two-thirds of the
12-23 costs of obtaining and operating the software for the community.
12-24 SECTION 18. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
12-25 SECTION 19. The importance of this legislation and the
12-26 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
12-27 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
13-1 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
13-2 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.