HBA-ALS H.B. 1220 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1220
By: Keel
State Affairs
2/25/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, audit working papers of the state auditor are statutorily
excepted from the disclosure requirements of the Open Records Act.  In
addition, the Texas Attorney General has issued opinions confirming that
this exception is necessary to perform the law enforcement duties of the
state auditor's office.  Although the statutory law enforcement duties of a
county auditor require the same level of security that is necessary and
granted to the state auditor, current law does not except the audit working
papers of a county auditor from these disclosure requirements.  As a
result, a county auditor must seek an attorney general opinion on each open
records request for audit working papers despite the fact that the attorney
general has consistently issued opinions finding that county auditor's
audit working papers are not subject to these disclosure requirements.  The
purpose of this bill is to provide the same statutory exception to a county
auditor that is provided to the state auditor. 

H.B. 1220 excepts the audit working papers or draft audit report of an
auditor of a political subdivision from the public information disclosure
requirements if the audit is conducted according to generally accepted
auditing standards as prescribed by certain entities. 

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 Section 552.116, Government Code, to provide that an
audit working paper or draft audit report of an auditor of a political
subdivision of this state is excepted from the disclosure requirements of
Section 552.021 (Public Information) if the audit is conducted in
accordance with generally accepted auditing standards as prescribed by the
American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Governmental
Accounting Standards Board, the United States General Accounting Office, or
another professionally recognized entity that prescribes auditing
standards. 

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