BILL ANALYSIS

Senate Research Center	S.B. 701
	By: Watson
	Open Government
	8/4/2011
	Enrolled

AUTHOR'S / SPONSOR'S STATEMENT OF INTENT

The state has promoted online transparency at the local level to great success.  For instance, the Comptroller's Leadership Circle provides incentives for local governments and school districts to post important financial data online.  State agencies should follow that lead by engaging the public through increased transparency and open government.

S.B. 701 amends current law relating to high-value data sets of state agencies posted on the Internet.

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

This bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, institution, or agency.

SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS

SECTION 1.  Amends Subchapter F, Chapter 2054, Government Code, by adding Section 2054.1265, as follows:

Sec. 2054.1265.  POSTING HIGH-VALUE DATA SETS ON INTERNET.  (a) Defines, in this section, "high-value data set" and "state agency."

(b) Requires each state agency to post on a generally accessible Internet website maintained by or for the agency each high-value data set created or maintained by the agency, if the agency:

(1) determines that, using existing resources, the agency can post the data set on the Internet website at no additional cost to the state;

(2) enters into a contract advantageous to the state under which the contractor posts the data set on the Internet website at no additional cost to the state; or

(3) receives a gift or grant specifically for the purpose of posting one or more of the agency's high-value data sets on the Internet website.

(c) Requires a high-value data set posted by a state agency under this section to be raw data in open standard format that allows the public to search, extract, organize, and analyze the information.

(d) Requires the web page on which a state agency's high-value data set is posted to use the agency's Internet website home page address and include the uniform resource locator suffix "data" and have a conspicuously displayed link on either the agency's Internet website home page or another intuitive location accessible from the agency's Internet website home page.

(e) Authorizes a state agency to accept a gift or grant for the purpose of posting one or more of the agency's high-value data sets on an Internet website.

SECTION 2.  Effective date: September 1, 2011.