Honorable David Swinford, Chair, House Committee on State Affairs
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB3013 by Bolton (Relating to the charges for certain public information maintained by a governmental body.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would add Section 552.275 to the Government Code to allow a governmental body to set a limit, not less than 36 hours, for the amount of time it will spend copying or providing information for inspection at no charge. Each time a governmental body complies with a request without charging for personnel time, it must provide the requestor with a statement showing the number of personnel hours spent complying with the request, and the cumulative amount spent during the applicable fiscal year.
If in connection with a request, the cumulative amount of personnel time spent complying with requests from the same requestor reaches the limit set by the governmental body, the governmental body would be authorized to charge the requestor for the cost of complying with the request (including materials, personnel time, and overhead). The governmental body would be required to provide the requestor with a cost estimate within 10 days of when the request was received. If the governmental body needs more time, it would be allowed to send the requestor notice explaining that it needs up to an additional 10 days to provide the cost estimate. However, a governmental body would also have the option to waive or reduce charges.
Once the requestor receives the estimate, the requestor must respond within 10 days by agreeing to pay the actual cost of producing the requested information, but not to exceed the estimated amount. If the requestor does not respond within 10 days, the request is considered withdrawn.
The bill would take effect immediately if it were to receive the required two-thirds vote in each house; otherwise, it would take effect September 1, 2007. If the bill were to initially take effect during a governmental body’s fiscal year, a requestor would be entitled to the full amount of staff and personnel time established by the governmental body for the remainder of the fiscal year, before being subject to any charge.
The fiscal impact to the state would depend on the number of requests for which an agency would be authorized to impose charges and for which the requestor does not withdraw the request rather than submit payment; however, the total amount of revenue that might be generated is not anticipated to be significant. It is anticipated that administrative costs for providing a statement to notify a requestor of the cumulative time fulfilling a request would not be significant. In addition, the proposed changes in statute would result in procedural changes for the Office of the Attorney General, but the agency reports that any associated costs could be absorbed within existing resources.
Local Government Impact
The fiscal impact to units of local government would vary depending on the number of requests received and the number that would meet the threshold for imposing a charge, as well as how many of the requestors meeting that threshold would withdraw their request rather than submitting a payment. According to counties, municipalities, and school districts contacted by the Legislative Budget Board, based on current request trends, the overall fiscal impact is expected to be insignificant as a percentage of each entity's overall budget. Most local governments responded that there would likely be a savings related to implementation, as there is an expectation that the provisions of the bill would curtail frivolous requests.