By Ellis S.B. No. 1712
76R7343 JRD-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the establishment of a common information center for
1-3 state government through which public inquiries can be transferred
1-4 to the appropriate state governmental entity and frequently
1-5 requested information can be forwarded.
1-6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-7 SECTION 1. Chapter 2170, Government Code, is amended by
1-8 adding Subchapter C to read as follows:
1-9 SUBCHAPTER C. ACCESS TEXAS INFORMATION CENTER
1-10 Sec. 2170.101. INFORMATION CENTER. (a) The commission
1-11 shall staff and operate an Access Texas information center for
1-12 state government. The information center is in addition to and does
1-13 not supplant information centers operated by other state
1-14 governmental entities.
1-15 (b) The center shall establish and the commission shall
1-16 widely publicize a toll-free telephone number to receive public
1-17 inquiries.
1-18 (c) The center shall remain continuously open to accept
1-19 telephone calls and shall:
1-20 (1) transfer callers as necessary to the appropriate
1-21 state governmental entity;
1-22 (2) answer frequently asked questions about state
1-23 government and state government services and activities; and
1-24 (3) send commonly requested information by facsimile
2-1 transmission or electronic mail to persons requesting the
2-2 information.
2-3 (d) The commission shall establish, maintain, and keep
2-4 current an electronic database. The commission shall train
2-5 employees of the center to use the electronic database in
2-6 performing their duties. The database must contain:
2-7 (1) the local and the toll-free telephone numbers of
2-8 each state governmental entity, indexed by:
2-9 (A) the names of the state governmental
2-10 entities; and
2-11 (B) subject matter, according to the types of
2-12 services provided by the state and according to other types of
2-13 state government activities;
2-14 (2) the business telephone number of each state
2-15 officer and employee; and
2-16 (3) information related to frequently asked questions
2-17 about the services provided by and other activities of state
2-18 government.
2-19 (e) The commission shall establish and maintain a generally
2-20 accessible Internet site through which members of the public may,
2-21 to the extent practical, access information in the center's
2-22 electronic database.
2-23 (f) The commission may recover the costs of developing and
2-24 operating the center through interagency contracts. The commission
2-25 may, after August 31, 2001, recover the costs of operating the
2-26 center by charging state governmental entities a fee based on the
2-27 amount of services the center provides to the public on behalf of
3-1 an entity, if the commission does not receive a direct
3-2 appropriation to operate the center.
3-3 Sec. 2170.102. COORDINATION WITH OTHER STATE AGENCIES. (a)
3-4 The commission shall ensure that other state agencies have access
3-5 to the electronic database.
3-6 (b) The center and other state agencies shall enter into
3-7 agreements as appropriate so that, to the extent practical:
3-8 (1) personnel at other state agency information
3-9 centers may, during reasonable interludes, assist the Access Texas
3-10 center by receiving and processing telephone calls to the Access
3-11 Texas center;
3-12 (2) personnel at the Access Texas center may assist
3-13 other state agency information centers during reasonable interludes
3-14 by receiving and processing telephone calls to the other centers;
3-15 and
3-16 (3) the telecommunications systems of and the
3-17 electronically accessible information available to the various
3-18 information centers are linked in a manner that will facilitate the
3-19 mutual assistance described by this section.
3-20 Sec. 2170.103. PRIVATIZATION OF CENTER. (a) The State
3-21 Council on Competitive Government may solicit bids or proposals
3-22 from private vendors to operate the Access Texas center. The
3-23 commission shall assist the council in evaluating the bids or
3-24 proposals. The council may award a contract to a private vendor if
3-25 the council determines that:
3-26 (1) the bid or proposal of the vendor offers the best
3-27 value to the state from among the bids or proposals received; and
4-1 (2) under the terms of the contract and given the
4-2 capabilities of the vendor, the vendor will operate the center in a
4-3 more effective or efficient manner than the state.
4-4 (b) The council may study the feasibility of consolidating
4-5 other state agency information centers into the Access Texas
4-6 center. Notwithstanding Section 2170.101(a), if the council awards
4-7 a contract to a private vendor to operate the Access Texas center
4-8 under Subsection (a) and determines that it is in the best
4-9 interests of the state to consolidate other state agency
4-10 information centers into the Access Texas center, then the council
4-11 may consolidate other state agency centers into the Access Texas
4-12 center for operation by the vendor under the contract.
4-13 SECTION 2. The General Services Commission may not, for the
4-14 state fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2001, receive a direct
4-15 appropriation for the development and operation of the Access Texas
4-16 information center that the commission is required to establish
4-17 under Subchapter C, Chapter 2170, Government Code, as added by this
4-18 Act. During that state fiscal biennium, each of the 50 largest
4-19 state agencies, as determined by the amount of appropriations to
4-20 the agencies for the biennium under the General Appropriations Act,
4-21 that are in the executive branch of state government and that are
4-22 not agencies or institutions of higher education, shall enter into
4-23 interagency contracts with the General Services Commission under
4-24 which those agencies will pay the commission for the development
4-25 and operation of the Access Texas information center during the
4-26 biennium. Each of those agencies shall pay the percentage of the
4-27 costs of developing and operating the center during the biennium
5-1 that is equal to the percentage obtained by dividing the agency's
5-2 appropriation for the biennium by the sum of the 50 agencies'
5-3 appropriations for the biennium. The cost of developing and
5-4 operating the Access Texas information center during the state
5-5 fiscal biennium ending August 31, 2001, may not exceed $1.8
5-6 million.
5-7 SECTION 3. The electronic database, the Internet site, and
5-8 the equipment and software necessary for the operation of the
5-9 Access Texas information center required under Subchapter C,
5-10 Chapter 2170, Government Code, as added by this Act, shall be
5-11 operational not later than September 2000, and the center shall
5-12 begin operations not later than that month. The center's toll-free
5-13 telephone number shall be listed with all telephone exchanges and
5-14 in the directories of all local telephone companies in this state
5-15 not later than December 2000.
5-16 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
5-17 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
5-18 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
5-19 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
5-20 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
5-21 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
5-22 passage, and it is so enacted.