HBA-PDH H.B. 788 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 788
By: Capelo
Corrections
3/15/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (department) is engaged
in a major reengineering of the systems and business processes relating to
offender information.  One aspect of the reengineering initiative is to
utilize technology in order to reduce the department's reliance on paper
documents, thereby increasing efficiency and ultimately enhancing public
safety. 

H.B. 788 allows the department to accept a document in either paper or
electronic format.  This bill also provides for the use of an electronic
signature or other unique identifier by the department to acknowledge
receipt of an electronically submitted document.  This bill does not
require electronic submission to the department. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.Amends Chapter 493, Government Code, by adding Section 493.021,
as follows: 

Sec.  493.021.  ELECTRONIC TRANSMISSION OF DOCUMENTS.  Authorizes the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice (department) to accept a document required
by statute if a document is submitted in paper form or an electronic
transmission of the information contained in the paper document.
Authorizes the department to electronically transmit evidence of delivery
if the document was received electronically and a statute requires the
department to provide a receipt, signature, or seal as evidence of
delivery.  Provides that this section does not authorize the department to
require a person to submit information electronically.  

SECTION 2.Emergency clause.
  Effective date: upon passage.