S.B. 1403 78(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


S.B. 1403
By: Lucio
State Affairs
Committee Report (Unamended)



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Currently, not all state agencies that award grants report information
related to these grants to the Texas State Library and Archives Commission
(TSLAC) in such a manner that it can be assembled and made available on a
central online database.  Putting all of this information in such a
database would allow the general public to search for grant opportunities
through the internet with greater ease.  The purposes of Senate Bill 1403
are to direct TSLAC and the Department of Information Resources to
establish an electronically searchable central database for all grants
awarded by state agencies, to require state agencies to report such
information to TSLAC in an appropriate form, and to create other
provisions for the operation and oversight of the database. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the committee that this bill does not expressly grant
any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department,
institution, or agency. 

ANALYSIS

Senate Bill 1403 amends Subchapter A, Chapter 411, Government Code, by
adding Section 441.010 to require the Texas State Library and Archives
Commission (TSLAC), in cooperation with the Department of Information
Resources (DIR), to establish an electronically searchable central
database accessible through TSLAC's on-line access system that will allow
a person to: 

_use keyword searches to discover all available state agency grant
opportunities; 
_obtain basic information regarding such opportunities; and
_electronically link to the portion of the granting agency's website at
which the person may obtain more detailed information regarding such
opportunities. 

The bill requires DIR to provide a link on TexasOnline to the database
described above. 

The bill provides a definition of "grant" for purposes of the Act.  

The bill requires each state agency that will award a grant to report the
required information about the grant opportunity to TSLAC, in a form
prescribed by TSLAC, so that it can be placed in the database. 

The bill requires the governor to appoint an advisory committee composed
of nine representatives from the Electronic Grants Assistance Workgroup to
gather input from database users and advise TSLAC regarding the
development of the database. 

The bill requires TSLAC to appoint an advisory committee composed of five
public members to annually evaluate the operation of the database, and
provides that Chapter 2110, Government Code (State Agency Advisory
Committees) does not apply to that committee.  

EFFECTIVE DATE

Upon passage, or, if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2003.