H.B. 8 78(2) BILL ANALYSIS H.B. 8 By: Swinford 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 8 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 December 1, 2003.