HBA-LCA C.S.H.B. 2063 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisC.S.H.B. 2063
By: Solis, Juan
Urban Affairs
4/6/1999
Committee Report (Substituted)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, only counties may collect a specific records management
and preservation fee (fee) for the preservation of ordinances, and birth,
death, and fetal death records (records).  Health districts and city clerks
are also repositories of vital statistics records.  C.S.H.B. 2063 allows a
county registrar or city clerk to impose fees to assist in the cost of
archiving and managing these records, and provides for the collection and
deposit of those fees. 

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 191.0045, Health and Safety Code, by amending
Subsections (d) and (g) and adding Subsection (h), as follows: 

(d)  Makes a conforming change.

(g)  Makes the application of Subsection (g) provisional to Subsection (h).
Makes a conforming change. 

(h)  Provides that a local registrar (registrar) may charge a records
management and preservation fee (fee), in addition to other fees charged
under this section (Fees).  Provides that the fee may not exceed $1 per
copy or certified copy of certain specified documents. Provides that
revenue generated by the fee may only be used to fund the management and
preservation of certain specified vital statistics record as maintained by
the registrar. Requires fees collected under this subsection to be
deposited to the credit of the records management and preservation fund
established under Section 203.003(6), Local Government Code (Duties of
Commissioners Court). 

SECTION 2.  Amends Subtitle A, Title 6, Local Government Code, by adding
Chapter 190, as follows: 

CHAPTER 190.  MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
PROVISIONS AFFECTING MUNICIPALITIES

Sec. 190.001.  RECORDS MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION FEE.  Provides that a
municipal clerk (clerk) may impose, in addition to a fee specified under
Subchapter F, Chapter 552, Government Code (Public Information) or under
another law, a records management and preservation fee in an amount equal
to five percent of the amount the clerk would otherwise charge for the
copy. 

SECTION 3.  Amends Section 203.003(6), Local Government Code, to include
Section 191.0045(h), Health and Safety Code (Fees), to the extent to which
it relates to the collection of fees by county and precinct officers, among
the statutes under which a commissioners court may establish a records
management and preservation fund.  
 
SECTION 4.  Effective date: September 1, 1999.

SECTION 5.  Emergency clause.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE

SECTION 1 of the substitute modifies the original SECTION 1 by modifying
proposed Subsection (h), Section 191.0045, Health and Safety Code (Fees) to
require that fees collected under that subsection be deposited to the
credit of the records management and preservation fund established under
Section 203.003(b), Local Government Code (Duties of Commissioners Court). 

SECTION 3 of the substitute amends Section 203.003, Local Government Code
(Duties of Commissioners Court), which was not addressed in the original,
to include Section 191.0045, Health and Safety Code, as a statute under
which a records management and preservation fund may be established, and to
make a conforming change. 

SECTIONS 3 and 4 of the original (effective date; emergency clause) are
redesignated to SECTIONS 4 and 5 of the substitute.