Honorable Kevin Eltife, Chair, Senate Committee on Business & Commerce
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB283 by Fallon (Relating to the requirement that certain governmental bodies make audio and video recordings of open meetings available on the Internet.), As Engrossed
No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code to require certain governmental bodies to make a video and audio recording of reasonable quality of each regularly scheduled open meeting that is not a work session or a special called meeting. The bill would require an archived copy of video and audio to be made available on an Internet site. The bill would also establish exemptions due to a catastrophe or technical breakdown. The bill would permit a governmental body to broadcast a regularly scheduled open meeting on television.
Local Government Impact
The provisions of the bill would apply to approximately 105 independent school districts with a student enrollment of 10,000 or greater. Charter schools would not be subject to these provisions because their members are not elected. Applicable school districts would be required to provide archived broadcasts of board of trustee meetings using an Internet website. The TEA indicated that school districts would incur administrative costs to either purchase equipment or pay for services to record video and audio of open meetings. At a minimum, the location of the open meeting would require a video camera and a computer with video and audio cards. There would be labor costs to operate the camera. Costs could range anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars depending on the number of meetings, the amount and quality of equipment, and whether the equipment was purchased, leased, or part of a services contract that covered the cost of labor to archive the video and audio of open meetings to be made available over the Internet.
There could be a fiscal impact to applicable cities and counties that would vary depending on current processes in a local entity.
The City of Conroe reported there would be costs for new equipment and SWAGIT annual fees totaling an estimated $15,739 in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016; and ongoing annual fees of $7,800 in FY 2017-2020.
Dallas County reported the county's meetings are already available online and the bill would have no fiscal impact on the county. Montgomery County reported there would be costs for hardware, a workstation, and monthly fees for streaming totaling an estimated $45,832 for FY 2016; and ongoing monthly fees of $18,645-$24,816 in FY 2017-2020.
The Dallas Area Rapid Transit reported $50,000 start-up costs and $100,000 costs annually to comply with provisions of the bill. The Forth Worth Transportation Authority reported annual costs of $29,174 to $32,774 from FY 2016- FY 2020 including streaming and hosting capabilities, and increased bandwidth. Corpus Christi Regional Transportation Authority reported first year costs of $48,788 in FY 2016 and costs of $11,988 in FY 2017- FY 2020 to comply with provisions of the bill; including server, camera equipment and operating costs.