By Bosse                                              H.B. No. 2853
         77R8469 SRC-D                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to studies performed by, and information gathered and
 1-3     analyzed by, the legislative council.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Chapter 323, Government Code, is amended by
 1-6     adding Section 323.013 to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 323.013.  REVIEW OF JUDICIAL DECISIONS INTERPRETING
 1-8     STATUTES.  The council shall conduct a continuing study of judicial
 1-9     decisions and, before each legislative session, prepare and deliver
1-10     to the appropriate standing committees of each house of the
1-11     legislature a report identifying recent decisions in which courts
1-12     have:
1-13                 (1)  clearly failed to implement legislative purposes;
1-14                 (2)  found two or more statutes to be in conflict;
1-15                 (3)  held a statute unconstitutional;
1-16                 (4)  expressly found a statute to be ambiguous;
1-17                 (5)  expressly suggested legislative action; or
1-18                 (6)  changed a common law doctrine.
1-19           SECTION 2.  Section 323.019(c), Government Code, is amended
1-20     to read as follows:
1-21           (c)  In order to develop and evaluate legislative policy, the
1-22     council is entitled to collect data from any state agency,
1-23     including data that is confidential under state or federal law.  In
1-24     addition to other uses consistent with this section, the council
 2-1     may use data collected for the purpose of matching data from
 2-2     various agencies.  Confidential data collected by the council does
 2-3     not lose its character as confidential information because of its
 2-4     collection by the council, and the providing of that data to the
 2-5     council does not constitute a release of the information by the
 2-6     state agency.  For the purposes of evaluating federally and
 2-7     state-supported education programs, or other appropriate purposes
 2-8     as authorized by [limited purpose of collecting and matching data
 2-9     subject to]  20 U.S.C. Section 1232g or other federal law governing
2-10     education records, employees of the council are considered state
2-11     school officials.
2-12           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
2-13     a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
2-14     provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
2-15     Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
2-16     Act takes effect on the 91st day after the last day of the
2-17     legislative session.