H.B. 63 78(1) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 63 By: Cook, Robby Government Reform Committee Report (Unamended) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Legislative Budget Board consists of ten members. Scheduling a board meeting or hearing with the members necessary to constitute a quorum can be difficult and at times, not all members are able to participate in the hearing or meeting due to its location. House Bill 63 would allow Legislative Budget Board members to attend a meeting, at which both the President and Vice President of the board are physically present, by use of a telephone conference call, video conference call, or other similar telecommunication device. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly grant any rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. ANALYSIS SECTION 1: Amends Section 322.003 of the Government Code by adding Subsections (d) and (e) as follows: Subsection (d) allows as an exception to Chapter 551 and other law that if the chairman and vicechairman of the board are physically present at a meeting, other members of the board may attend the meeting via telephone conference call, video conferencing call, or other similar telecommunication device. The purpose of the subsection is for constituting a quorum, voting, or for allowing a member to participate fully in any meeting of the board. The option is available regardless of subject of the meeting or topics addressed by the members. Subsection (e) specifies that a meeting held by telephone conference call, video conferencing call or other telecommunication device: is subject to the notice requirements applicable to other meetings, must specify in the hearing notice the location where the chairman and vice-chairman of the board will physically be present, must be open to the public at the specified location and audible to the public, and must provide two-way audio communication between all members of the board in attendance. SECTION 2: Effective Date. EFFECTIVE DATE This Act takes effect November 1, 2003.