HBA-JLV H.B. 2589 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2589
By: Hochberg
State Affairs
3/22/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

State agencies with budgets exceeding a certain amount are required to
maintain a generally accessible Internet site.  In addition to specified
information, such as budget, rules, and contracts, many sites also include
commonly requested information such as hearing announcements, program
descriptions, or publications.  Currently there is no requirement for a
state agency to post a notice stipulating the conditions of use for
information copied from a state agency Internet site.  Therefore some sites
post a privacy policy notice or disclaimer, while others do not.  Well-run
commercial Internet sites clearly state a policy of use, often referred to
as "terms of service."  A terms of service statement informs an individual
of the requirements regarding the use of information taken from an Internet
site.  House Bill 2589 requires the Department of Information Resources to
create a terms of service statement for state agency Internet sites. 

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 2589 amends the Government Code to require the Department of
Information Resources (department) to adopt a policy that prescribes terms
under which a person may use, copy information from, or link to a generally
accessible Internet site maintained by or for a state agency, and which
protects the identity of members of the public who access information from
or through such sites.  The bill requires the department to post the policy
on its Internet site.  All state agencies are required to prominently post
a link to the policy statement on a generally accessible Internet site
maintained by or for that agency.  

The bill requires that the policy include a statement:

 _generally permitting the use and reproduction of information on a state
agency's Internet site without the state agency's permission, subject to
specified conditions; 
 
 _generally permitting linking from any web page to any page on a state
agency's Internet site without the state agency's permission; 
 
 _prohibiting a state agency from charging a fee to access, use, reproduce
or allow linking to its Internet site except to the extent the state agency
is specifically authorized to do so by the legislature; 
 
 _requiring that the source of any information reproduced from a state
agency's Internet site be clearly stated along with  the date that the
material was copied from the state agency's Internet site; 
 
 _prohibiting a state agency from selling or releasing an electronic mail
address of a member of the public unless the member of the public has
affirmatively elected to allow the release  of the address; and 
 
 _specifying other policies as are deemed necessary.

The bill provides that the electronic mail address of a member of the
public who provides the address for the purpose of communicating
electronically with a member of a governmental body is excepted from the
public information law  unless the member of the public has affirmatively
elected to allow the release of the address. 

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.