C.S.H.B. 1719 78(R) BILL ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1719 By: Goodman State Affairs Committee Report (Substituted) BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Currently, the State Board of Education requires school boards to conduct team building sessions. These sessions are not excepted from the open meetings requirements of Chapter 551 of the Government Code. The candid exchange between board members that is essential for effective team building may not take place if the team building session occurs in a public forum. The purpose of C.S.H.B. 1719 is to provide that a school board is not required to conduct an open meeting to deliberate in a team building session required by rule of the State Board of Education unless a member of the school board requests that the team building session occur in an open meeting. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the committee that this bill does not grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, institution, or agency. ANALYSIS C.S.H.B. 1719 amends Section 551.074, Government Code to provide that a school board is not required to conduct an open meeting to deliberate in a team building session required by rule of the State Board of Education, unless a member of the school board requests that the session occur in an open meeting. EFFECTIVE DATE Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act takes effect September 1, 2003. COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL TO SUBSTITUTE C.S.H.B. 1719 applies only to a school board, whereas the original bill allowed a governmental body subject to Chapter 551 to conduct, in a closed meeting, a self-evaluation of the governmental body's performance as a whole. The substitute also removes language in the original which provided that a governmental body is not required to meet in open session when deliberating the appointment, duties, discipline, or dismissal of one or more public officers or of a public employee. In addition, the provision relating to the effective date of the Act was changed.