HBA-SEP H.B. 1872 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1872 By: Solis, Jim State Affairs 6/13/2001 Enrolled BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Prior to the 77th Legislature, state law required the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to prepare, at the request of a state agency, a local employment impact statement (statement) for a proposed rule that may have affected a local economy. TWC assigned the task of preparing these statements to its Labor Market Information Department (LMI), which is federally funded for specific activities. Most statements are not burdensome, however, the rule changes that did result in a substantial employment impact caused LMI to expend federal funds for this purpose. In addition, LMI lacked the resources to perform a thorough analysis which can require the services of many professionals not employed by LMI such as engineers, environmental scientists, geologists, and health specialists. The agency proposing the rule change may be better equipped than TWC to analyze and describe such changes. House Bill 1872 requires the state agency proposing the rule to prepare a local impact statement on determining that a proposed rule may affect a local economy. 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. ANALYSIS House Bill 1872 amends the Government Code to require a state agency, on determining that a proposed rule may affect a local economy, to prepare a local employment impact statement. The bill removes provisions requiring the Texas Workforce Commission to prepare, on request from a state agency, a local impact statement for a proposed rule that may affect a local economy and provisions requiring a state agency to designate a liaison to furnish requested information during the preparation of the local impact statement. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.