1-1 By: Armbrister S.B. No. 1850
1-2 (In the Senate - Filed March 14, 1997; March 24, 1997, read
1-3 first time and referred to Committee on State Affairs;
1-4 April 30, 1997, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
1-5 Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0; April 30, 1997,
1-6 sent to printer.)
1-7 COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1850 By: Armbrister
1-8 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-9 AN ACT
1-10 relating to the requirement of public disclosure of information by
1-11 the governing bodies of entities that are parties to certain
1-12 contracts with the state.
1-13 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-14 SECTION 1. Section 552.003, Government Code, is amended to
1-15 read as follows:
1-16 Sec. 552.003. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter:
1-17 (1) "Governmental body":
1-18 (A) means:
1-19 (i) a board, commission, department,
1-20 committee, institution, agency, or office that is within or is
1-21 created by the executive or legislative branch of state government
1-22 and that is directed by one or more elected or appointed members;
1-23 (ii) a county commissioners court in the
1-24 state;
1-25 (iii) a municipal governing body in the
1-26 state;
1-27 (iv) a deliberative body that has
1-28 rulemaking or quasi-judicial power and that is classified as a
1-29 department, agency, or political subdivision of a county or
1-30 municipality;
1-31 (v) a school district board of trustees;
1-32 (vi) a county board of school trustees;
1-33 (vii) a county board of education;
1-34 (viii) the governing board of a special
1-35 district;
1-36 (ix) the governing body of a nonprofit
1-37 corporation organized under Chapter 76, Acts of the 43rd
1-38 Legislature, 1st Called Session, 1933 (Article 1434a, Vernon's
1-39 Texas Civil Statutes), that provides a water supply or wastewater
1-40 service, or both, and is exempt from ad valorem taxation under
1-41 Section 11.30, Tax Code; [and]
1-42 (x) the part, section, or portion of an
1-43 organization, corporation, commission, committee, institution, or
1-44 agency that spends or that is supported in whole or in part by
1-45 public funds; and
1-46 (xi) the governing body of an entity that
1-47 is a party to a contract with the state, a state agency, or a
1-48 political subdivision of the state under which the entity provides
1-49 services or performs duties that constitute certain public
1-50 functions or services; and
1-51 (B) does not include the judiciary.
1-52 (2) "Certain public functions or services" means those
1-53 duties, functions, and services that a public authority would
1-54 provide itself or would perform itself but for a contract with an
1-55 entity to provide the service or perform the duty and:
1-56 (A) the amount of the contract exceeds $1
1-57 million; and
1-58 (B) the contract provides for an operation or
1-59 maintenance service.
1-60 (3) "Manipulation" means the process of modifying,
1-61 reordering, or decoding of information with human intervention.
1-62 (4) [(3)] "Processing" means the execution of a
1-63 sequence of coded instructions by a computer producing a result.
1-64 (5) [(4)] "Programming" means the process of producing
2-1 a sequence of coded instructions that can be executed by a
2-2 computer.
2-3 (6) [(5)] "Public funds" means funds of the state or
2-4 of a governmental subdivision of the state.
2-5 (7) [(6)] "Requestor" means a person who submits a
2-6 request to a governmental body for inspection or copies of public
2-7 information.
2-8 SECTION 2. Section 552.021, Government Code, is amended to
2-9 read as follows:
2-10 Sec. 552.021. AVAILABILITY OF PUBLIC INFORMATION.
2-11 (a) Public information is available to the public at a minimum
2-12 during the normal business hours of the governmental body.
2-13 (b) Information is public information if, under a law or
2-14 ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official
2-15 business, it is collected, assembled, or maintained:
2-16 (1) by a governmental body as defined by Section
2-17 552.003(1)(A)(i)-(x);
2-18 (2) for a governmental body that owns the information
2-19 or has a right of access to it; or
2-20 (3) by a governmental body as defined by Section
2-21 552.003(1)(A)(xi), but only to the extent that the information to
2-22 be obtained from that governmental body directly relates to the
2-23 provision of a service or performance of a duty that constitutes a
2-24 certain public function or service. Public information to be
2-25 obtained from a governmental body as defined by Section
2-26 552.003(1)(A)(xi) does not include financial information, other
2-27 than that directly related to the receipt or expenditure of public
2-28 funds, or proprietary or trade secret information.
2-29 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. The
2-30 change in law made by this Act applies only to the governing body
2-31 of an entity that is a party to a contract with the state, a state
2-32 agency, or a political subdivision of the state that is entered
2-33 into on or after September 4, 1997. A governing body of an entity
2-34 that is a party to a contract with the state, a state agency, or a
2-35 political subdivision of the state, that is entered into before
2-36 September 4, 1997, is covered by the law in effect when the
2-37 contract was entered into, and the former law is continued in
2-38 effect for that purpose.
2-39 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
2-40 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
2-41 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-42 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-43 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
2-44 * * * * *