SRC-JXG S.B. 1367 76(R)BILL ANALYSIS Senate Research CenterS.B. 1367 By: Harris Administration 6/29/1999 Enrolled DIGEST Currently, the open records law allows a legislator to obtain one copy of any public information without charge. The Texas Legislative Council (council) conducts investigations, studies, and gathers and disseminates information for the legislature. The council also maintains databases of statistical and demographic information to obtain and correlate information for legislative policy analysis and development. S.B. 1367 will authorize legislative agencies and committees to cooperate with the council in providing information to the extent permitted by state and federal law, and will entitle the council to obtain appraisal records in electronic form from appraisal districts. PURPOSE As enrolled, S.B. 1367 authorizes legislative agencies and committees access to the same information. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY This bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 552.264, Government Code, to require one copy of public information that is requested from a state agency by a member, agency, or committee of the legislature under Section 552.008 to be provided without charge. SECTION 2. Amends Chapter 323, Government Code, by adding Section 323.019, as follows: Sec. 323.019. STATISTICAL AND DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION AND STUDIES. (a) 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. (b) Requires state agencies in each branch of government to cooperate with the council in the gathering of information and the production of reports under this section and to provide information as requested by the council to the maximum extent permitted by state or federal law. (c) Entitles the council to collect data from any state agency, including data that is confidential under state or federal law, in order to develop and evaluate legislative policy. Authorizes the council to use data collected for the purpose of matching data from various agencies, in addition to other uses consistent with this section. Provides that confidential data collected by the council does not lose its character as confidential information because of its collection by the council, and the providing of that data to the council does not constitute a release of the information by the state agency. Provides that employees of the council are considered state school officials, for the limited purpose of collecting and matching data subject to 20 U.S.C. Section 1232g or other federal law governing education records. (d) Provides that the council is subject to any federal law governing the release of or providing access to any personally identifiable information to the same extent as the agency from which the data is collected. Prohibits the council from releasing or distributing the data to any individual member of the legislature, or to any other person, in a form that contains personally identifiable information. (e) Requires the council and the state agency from which the data is collected to cooperate in the confidential handling of the data, such as the encoding, decoding, and reencoding of the information, in collecting personally identifiable information under this section. Authorizes personally identifiable information to be used by the council solely for the purpose of statistical and policy analysis, including data matching, and to be destroyed immediately when no longer needed for that analysis. (f) Authorizes the council to produce and release statistical data that does not include any personally identifiable information, using information collected and matched under this section. SECTION 3. Amends Section 276.008(a), Election Code, to require the secretary of state, a county clerk, or county elections administrator, a city secretary, or a voter registrar to provide without charge to the council information or data maintained by the appropriate officer relating to voter turnout. SECTION 4. Amends Chapter 6A, Tax Code, by adding Section 6.14, as follows: Sec. 6.14. INFORMATION PROVIDED TO TEXAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. Requires an appraisal district that maintains its appraisal records in electronic format to provide a copy of the information or data maintained in the district's appraisal records to the council without charge, on the written request of the council. Requires the appraisal district to provide the requested information or data to the council as soon as practicable, but no later than the 30th day after the date the request is received by the district. Requires the information or data to be provided in a form approved by the council. SECTION 5. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.