HBA-ALS S.B. 1367 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisS.B. 1367 By: Harris State Affairs 4/22/1999 Engrossed BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The open records law provides that a legislator is provided one copy of any public information without charge. However this provision does not apply to the gathering of information by a legislative agency, such as the Legislative Council (council) or the Legislative Budget Board, or by a legislative committee. The council is required to conduct investigations and studies and to gather and disseminate information for the legislature's use. To perform its duty, the council maintains databases of statistical and demographic information and must rely on the cooperation of various agencies in order to obtain and correlate information for legislative policy analysis and development. S.B. 1367 allows legislative agencies and committees to receive without charge one copy of public information from a state agency. This bill allows the council to gather and analyze information relating to certain public service for the purposes of conducting research and producing reports. This bill requires state agencies to cooperate with the council in its information gathering efforts. 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 552.264, Government Code, to require that legislative agencies and committees be provided one requested copy of public information without cost. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 323, Government Code (governing the Texas Legislative Council), by adding Section 323.019, as follows: Sec. 323.019. STATISTICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND STUDIES. Authorizes the Texas Legislative Council (council) to gather and analyze information relating to public education and other public services for the purpose of conducting statistical and demographic research and producing reports. Requires state agencies in each branch of the government to cooperate with the council in the gathering of information and production of reports and to provide the council with requested information to the extent permitted by state or federal law. SECTION 3. Amends Section 276.008(a), Election Code, to add "voter turnout" to the election information that must be provided by local election officials to the council. SECTION 4. Amends Subchapter A, Chapter 6, Tax Code, by adding Section 6.14, as follows: Sec. 6.14. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. (a) Requires an appraisal district to provide, without charge, a requested copy of its appraisal information or data maintained in its electronic appraisal records to the Texas Legislative Council. (b) Requires the appraisal district to provide the requested information to the council as soon as practicable, but no later than the 30th day after the district receives the request. (c) Requires the information or data to be in a form approved by the council. SECTION 5.Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.