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.