By Carona                                              S.B. No. 277
         76R648 JD-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to rendition by the attorney general of decisions
 1-3     requested under the open records law.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 552.306(a), Government Code, is amended
 1-6     to read as follows:
 1-7           (a)  The attorney general shall promptly render a decision
 1-8     requested under this subchapter, consistent with the standards of
 1-9     due process, determining whether the requested information is
1-10     within one of the exceptions of Subchapter C.  The attorney general
1-11     shall render the decision not later than the 20th [60th] working
1-12     day after the date the attorney general received the request for a
1-13     decision.  If the attorney general is unable to issue the decision
1-14     within the 20-day [60-day] period, the attorney general may extend
1-15     the period for issuing the decision by an additional 10 [20]
1-16     working days by informing the governmental body and the requestor,
1-17     during the original 20-day [60-day] period, of the reason for the
1-18     delay.
1-19           SECTION 2.  The changes in law made by this Act relating to
1-20     the period in which the attorney general is required to render a
1-21     decision under the open records law applies only to a request for a
1-22     decision filed with the attorney general on or after the effective
1-23     date of this Act.  A request for a decision filed with the attorney
1-24     general before the effective date of this Act is governed by the
 2-1     law in effect immediately before the effective date of this Act,
 2-2     and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose.
 2-3           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-4     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-5     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
 2-6     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
 2-7     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.