AN ACT
1-1 relating to establishing customer service standards and performance
1-2 measures for state agencies.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Subtitle C, Title 10, Government Code, is amended
1-5 by adding Chapter 2113 to read as follows:
1-6 CHAPTER 2113. CUSTOMER SERVICE
1-7 Sec. 2113.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "state agency"
1-8 means a department, commission, board, office, or other agency in
1-9 the executive or judicial branch of state government that is
1-10 created under the constitution or a statute of this state. The
1-11 term includes an institution of higher education as defined by
1-12 Section 61.003, Education Code.
1-13 Sec. 2113.002. CUSTOMER SERVICE INPUT. (a) A state agency
1-14 shall create an inventory of external customers for each budget
1-15 strategy listed in the General Appropriations Act for that agency.
1-16 (b) Each agency shall gather information from customers
1-17 using survey or focus groups or other appropriate methods approved
1-18 by the Governor's Office of Budget and Planning and the Legislative
1-19 Budget Board regarding the quality of service delivered by that
1-20 agency. The information requested shall be as specified by the
1-21 Governor's Office of Budget and Planning and the Legislative Budget
1-22 Board and may include evaluations of an agency's:
1-23 (1) facilities, including the customer's ability to
1-24 access that agency, the office location, signs, and cleanliness;
2-1 (2) staff, including employee courtesy, friendliness,
2-2 and knowledgeability, and whether staff members adequately identify
2-3 themselves to customers by name, including the use of name plates
2-4 or tags for accountability;
2-5 (3) communications, including toll-free telephone
2-6 access, the average time a customer spends on hold, call transfers,
2-7 access to a live person, letters, and electronic mail;
2-8 (4) Internet site, including the ease of use of the
2-9 site, information on the location of the site and the agency, and
2-10 information accessible through the site such as a listing of
2-11 services and programs and whom to contact for further information
2-12 or to complain;
2-13 (5) complaint handling process, including whether it
2-14 is easy to file a complaint and whether responses are timely;
2-15 (6) ability to timely serve its customers, including
2-16 the amount of time a customer waits for service in person, by
2-17 phone, by letter, or at a website; and
2-18 (7) brochures or other printed information, including
2-19 the accuracy of that information.
2-20 (c) Not later than June 1 of each even-numbered year, an
2-21 agency shall report on the information gathered under Subsection
2-22 (b) to the Legislative Budget Board and the Governor's Office of
2-23 Budget and Planning.
2-24 Sec. 2113.003. PERFORMANCE MEASURES. The Legislative Budget
2-25 Board shall develop means to measure customer service satisfaction
2-26 and create performance measures for state agencies in this area.
3-1 Sec. 2113.004. INSPECTIONS. The Legislative Budget Board
3-2 and the Governor's Office of Budget and Planning may inspect a
3-3 state agency and analyze its customer service performance by
3-4 sending a customer service evaluator to confidentially pretend to
3-5 be a customer of that agency.
3-6 Sec. 2113.005. TEXAS STAR AWARD. (a) The Legislative
3-7 Budget Board and the Governor's Office of Budget and Planning may
3-8 award the "Texas Star" to a state agency that provides exemplary
3-9 customer service based on the performance measures and standards
3-10 adopted under this chapter.
3-11 (b) The board and the office of budget and planning shall
3-12 conduct an evaluation to determine agencies that may qualify for
3-13 the Texas Star award. The evaluation shall be conducted under the
3-14 procedures outlined in Sections 66-68, Article IX, Chapter 1452,
3-15 Acts of the 75th Legislature, Regular Session, 1997 (the General
3-16 Appropriations Act).
3-17 Sec. 2113.006. CUSTOMER RELATIONS REPRESENTATIVE; COMPACT
3-18 WITH TEXANS. (a) A state agency shall appoint a customer
3-19 relations representative.
3-20 (b) The representative shall:
3-21 (1) coordinate the state agency's customer service
3-22 performance measurement under this chapter;
3-23 (2) gather information and evaluations from the public
3-24 about an agency's customer service;
3-25 (3) respond to customer concerns; and
3-26 (4) establish the agency's compact with Texans under
4-1 Subsection (c).
4-2 (c) Each state agency shall create a "Compact With Texans."
4-3 The compact must be approved by the Governor's Office of Budget and
4-4 Planning and the Legislative Budget Board. Each Compact With
4-5 Texans shall set customer service standards and describe customer
4-6 service principles for that agency and address:
4-7 (1) the agency's procedures for responding to public
4-8 contacts and complaints;
4-9 (2) applicable licensing and certification procedures;
4-10 and
4-11 (3) customer waiting time for access and service
4-12 delivery and responses to complaints.
4-13 (d) Each agency that maintains a website shall publish its
4-14 Compact With Texans on that website.
4-15 Sec. 2113.007. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. (a) The Governor's
4-16 Office of Budget and Planning may adopt rules to implement this
4-17 chapter.
4-18 (b) In developing the rules, the office of budget and
4-19 planning shall consult with and consider the comments of the
4-20 Legislative Budget Board.
4-21 SECTION 2. (a) For purposes of this section, "state agency"
4-22 means a department, commission, board, office, or other agency in
4-23 the executive or judicial branch of government that is created
4-24 under the constitution or a statute of this state. The term
4-25 includes an institution of higher education as defined by Section
4-26 61.003, Education Code.
5-1 (b) The Legislative Budget Board and the Governor's Office
5-2 of Budget and Planning shall prepare a two-volume report and file
5-3 it with the lieutenant governor and speaker of the house of
5-4 representatives not later than December 31, 2000.
5-5 (c) The report must include:
5-6 (1) a compilation of each state agency's customer
5-7 service performance standards; and
5-8 (2) an analysis of state agencies' customer service
5-9 performance standards and recommendations for improving customer
5-10 service and customer service standards by state agencies.
5-11 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1999, except
5-12 that Section 2113.004, Government Code, as added by this Act, takes
5-13 effect September 1, 2001.
5-14 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-15 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-16 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-17 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-18 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
_______________________________ _______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1563 passed the Senate on
May 3, 1999, by the following vote: Yeas 30, Nays 0; and that the
Senate concurred in House amendment on May 29, 1999, by a viva-voce
vote.
_______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1563 passed the House, with
amendment, on May 25, 1999, by a non-record vote.
_______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
Approved:
_______________________________
Date
_______________________________
Governor