By Hochberg H.B. No. 2589 Line and page numbers may not match official copy. Bill not drafted by TLC or Senate E&E. A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the required posting of information on a state agency's 1-3 Internet site, and providing an exemption to open records 1-4 requirements. 1-5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-6 SECTION 1. Section 2054.121, Government Code, as added by 1-7 Section 1, Chapter 1573, Acts of the 76th Legislature, Regular 1-8 Session, 1999, is amended to read as follows: 1-9 Sec. 2054.121. REQUIRED POSTING OF INFORMATION ON INTERNET. 1-10 (a) The department shall adopt a policy that prescribes terms 1-11 under which a person may use, copy information from, or link to a 1-12 generally accessible Internet site maintained by or for a state 1-13 agency, and which protects the identity of members of the public 1-14 who access information from or through such sites. The department 1-15 shall post the policy on its Internet site. A state agency shall 1-16 prominently post a link to the policy statement on a generally 1-17 accessible Internet site maintained by or for the agency. 1-18 (b) The policy shall include a statement: 1-19 (1) generally permitting the use and reproduction of 1-20 information on a state agency's Internet site without the state 1-21 agency's permission, subject to specified conditions; 1-22 (2) generally permitting linking from any web page to 2-1 any page on a state agency's Internet site without the state 2-2 agency's permission, subject to specified conditions; 2-3 (3) prohibiting a state agency from charging a fee to 2-4 access, use, reproduce or allow linking to its Internet site except 2-5 to the extent the state agency is specifically authorized to do so 2-6 by the legislature; 2-7 (4) requiring that the source of any information 2-8 reproduced from a state agency's Internet site be clearly stated 2-9 along with the date that the material was copied from the state 2-10 agency's Internet site; 2-11 (5) prohibiting a state agency from selling or 2-12 releasing an electronic mail address of a member of the public 2-13 unless the member of the public has affirmatively elected to allow 2-14 the release of the address; and 2-15 (6) specifying other policies as are deemed necessary 2-16 to protect the privacy of members of the public who access state 2-17 agency Internet sites, provided that such policies do not conflict 2-18 with Chapter 552, Government Code, or other provisions of state law 2-19 regarding the availability or confidentiality of public 2-20 information. 2-21 (c) Each state agency, other than an institution of higher 2-22 education, that receives an aggregate amount of appropriations in 2-23 the General Appropriations Act for a state fiscal biennium that 2-24 exceeds $175 million shall post the following information during 2-25 the biennium on a generally accessible Internet site maintained by 2-26 or for the agency: 3-1 (1) an analysis of all agency expenditures during the 3-2 two preceding state fiscal years that lists each county in the 3-3 state and states for each county the amount of agency expenditures 3-4 made in or for the benefit of the county; 3-5 (2) if the information required to substantially 3-6 comply with Subdivision (1) is not available, an analysis that 3-7 approximates compliance with Subdivision (1) to the greatest 3-8 possible extent by listing agency expenditures according to 3-9 geographic regions of the state, to the extent possible, and by 3-10 each field office of the agency; 3-11 (3) a profile of the governing officer or of each 3-12 member of the governing body of the agency that includes, among 3-13 other information, the office address of the officer or member; 3-14 (4) a listing and description of all contracts with 3-15 vendors that have a value exceeding $100,000 that the agency has 3-16 entered into and that are currently being performed or for which 3-17 performance has not yet begun; 3-18 (5) a brief description of the agency's duties; and 3-19 (6) an electronic link to the agency's rules as 3-20 published in the electronic version of the Texas Administrative 3-21 Code and an electronic link to any written procedure of the agency 3-22 relating to agency hearings that is not contained in the electronic 3-23 version of the Texas Administrative Code. 3-24 SECTION 2. Chapter 552, Government Code, is amended by 3-25 adding Section 552.133 to read as follows: 3-26 Sec. 552.133. EXCEPTION; CERTAIN ELECTRONIC MAIL ADDRESSES. 4-1 The electronic mail address of a member of the public who provides 4-2 the address for the purpose of communicating electronically with a 4-3 governmental body is excepted from the requirements of Section 4-4 552.001, unless the member of the public has affirmatively elected 4-5 to allow the release of the address. 4-6 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect on September 1, 2001.