Honorable Bill Callegari, Chair, House Committee on Government Efficiency & Reform
FROM:
John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB2439 by Gallego ( Relating to posting suggestions and ideas on cost-efficiency on certain state agency websites.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
There would be an indeterminate fiscal impact to the state from the provisions of the bill.
The bill would amend Chapter 2054, Government Code, to require a state agency with at least 1,500 employees to post on the agency’s intranet website or generally accessible Internet website an electronic form or link allowing an employee of the agency to submit suggestions and ideas on how to make the agency more cost-efficient. The bill would require the state agencies to post on the agency’s generally accessible Internet website a link allowing members of the public to monitor the suggestions and vote for their favorite submissions. The bill would require the Department of Information (DIR) to adopt rules establishing procedures and required formats and would authorize DIR to exclude a state agency from requirements of the bill if DIR determines that the agency has a preexisting program or link that substantially meets the requirements of the bill.
It is anticipated that costs to implement provisions of the bill would range from $0 to approximately $100,000 for an affected agency for the 2012-13 biennium. Factors affecting costs would vary based on rules adopted by DIR and standards for general accessibility, which could include: screen readers, Braille terminals, screen recognition, screen magnification and speech recognition. Costs may include subscription or licensing of applications; application development; programming; and maintenance.
Local Government Impact
No fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
304 Comptroller of Public Accounts, 332 Department of Housing and Community Affairs, 529 Health and Human Services Commission