BILL ANALYSIS
Senate Research Center S.B. 1803
80R9464 TAD-D By: Uresti
AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT
Currently, this state does not have a state statistician. The Department of Statistics at Texas A&M University was founded in 1962 and is the only public institution in Texas that has a separate department of statistics and grants a doctoral-level degree in both applied and theoretical statistics. This program is a nationally recognized statistics program that has graduated many masters and doctoral students since its inception. Currently, this department is the third largest statistics department in the country in terms of the number of faculty members on staff, giving the department many able hands to serve as the state statistician.
As proposed, S.B. 1803 creates the office of state statistician. This bill requires the head of the Department of Statistics at Texas A&M University, in consultation with the dean of the College of Science at that university, to name a faculty or staff member as the state statistician. Finally, this bill authorizes the state statistician to conduct statistical analyses for public and private entities and authorizes the state statistician to collect fees and negotiate contracts to recover costs.
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS
SECTION 1. Amends Chapter 88, Education Code, by adding Subchapter K, as follows:
SUBCHAPTER K. OFFICE OF STATE STATISTICIAN
Sec. 88.821. STATE STATISTICIAN. (a) Requires the head of the Department of Statistics (department) at Texas A&M University (university), in consultation with the dean of the College of Science at that university, to establish the office of state statistician (office) within the department and designate a member of the faculty or staff of the department as the state statistician.
(b) Authorizes the office, in addition to the duties assigned by the department or the university to the office, to conduct statistical analysis and research on request for public and private entities. Authorizes the office to charge and collect fees for services provided to any person in amounts sufficient to recover the costs of providing those services or provide services under a contract that provides for a recovery of those costs.
SECTION 2. Effective date: upon passage or September 1, 2007.