HBA-TYH S.B. 1252 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1252
By: West
State Affairs
4/27/1999
Engrossed



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, there is no law authorizing a governmental body to broadcast an
open meeting over the Internet.  Both the State of Colorado and the U.S.
Department of Energy have conducted experimental official government online
hearings, which provided objective documentation of the issues and invited
public comment on them over the Internet.  The purpose of this bill is to
allow governmental bodies to conduct open public meetings over the
Internet, and to set forth rules regulating this practice.   

S.B. 1252 provides a definition for "Internet" and allows a governmental
body to broadcast an open meeting over the Internet.  The bill requires a
governmental body that broadcasts a meeting over the Internet to establish
an Internet site that provides public access to the broadcast from that
site.  

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 Subchapter F, Chapter 551, Government Code, by adding
Section 551.128, as follows: 

Sec.  551.128.  INTERNET BROADCAST OF MEETING.  (a) Defines "Internet."  

(b) Authorizes a governmental body to broadcast an open meeting over the
Internet, except as otherwise provided by this section.   

(c) Requires a governmental body that broadcasts a meeting over the
Internet to establish an Internet site; provide access to the broadcast
site;  provide on the Internet site, the same notice of the meeting that is
required to be posted pursuant to Subchapter C (Notice of Meetings).
Provides that the notice on the Internet must be posted within the time
required for posting notice under Subchapter C. 


SECTION 2.  Amends the heading to Subchapter F, Chapter 551, Government
Code, as follows: 

SUBCHAPTER F.  New title:  MEETINGS USING TELEPHONE, VIDEOCONFERENCE, OR
INTERNET.  Deletes "by," "conference call or," and "call" from existing
title. 

SECTION 3.  (a)  Requires the Department of Information Resources
(department) to form a task force to determine if a governmental body can: 

_receive real-time testimony from a person watching the broadcast of a
meeting of the governmental body over the Internet; and  

_provide a way for the public to comment to the governmental body over the
Internet on the issues discussed at the meeting. 
 Provides that the task force determine whether the audio and video signals
broadcast over the Internet can be of sufficient quality so that the public
can observe the demeanor and hear the voice of each participant. 

(b)  Requires the department to report its findings to the legislature no
later than September 1, 2000. 

SECTION 4.Effective date: September 1, 1999. 

SECTION 5.Emergency clause.