BILL ANALYSIS |
|
C.S.H.B. 2305 |
|
By: Guillen |
|
Government Transparency & Operation |
|
Committee Report (Substituted) |
|
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Interested parties contend that the required methods for transmission and receipt of certain state agency reports and notices are too restrictive and neither cost-efficient nor timely. C.S.H.B. 2305 seeks to increase efficiency and transparency in this area by allowing certain state agencies to use the most efficient means available to transmit and receive documents, by evaluating the necessity of each state agency report, and by requiring the online publication of certain reports in the Texas Digital Archive.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
CRIMINAL JUSTICE IMPACT
It is the committee's opinion that this bill does not expressly create a criminal offense, increase the punishment for an existing criminal offense or category of offenses, or change the eligibility of a person for community supervision, parole, or mandatory supervision.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
RULEMAKING AUTHORITY
It is the committee's opinion that rulemaking authority is expressly granted to state agencies that transmit and receive state documents using the Internet or another electronic medium in SECTION 5 of this bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
ANALYSIS
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Government Code to require the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC) to submit to the governor and the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) not later than January 1 of every other odd-numbered year a written report regarding all statutorily required reports prepared by and submitted to certain applicable state agencies. The bill authorizes TSLAC to consult with other such state agencies in preparing the report and requires such a state agency to cooperate with TSLAC in securing the information necessary for preparing the report and to submit that information to TSLAC. The bill requires TSLAC to prescribe the time and manner in which such a state agency transmits the information necessary to prepare the report and authorizes TSLAC to require the information to be submitted using the Texas Digital Archive, defined by the bill as the digital repository maintained and operated by TSLAC for the preservation of and access to permanently valuable copies of archival state records, reports, and publications. The bill requires the TSLAC report to include specified information for each statutorily required report, to be made available to the public, and to provide indices by preparing agency, title of report, and report recipient. The bill establishes that the first required TSLAC report is due not later than January 1, 2021.
C.S.H.B. 2305 requires an executive-branch or judicial-branch state agency, including a public university system or public institution of higher education, to the extent a report prepared by the agency is not confidential or excepted from the public-availability requirement of state public information law, to use the Texas Digital Archive to submit or post the report if the report is required by a statute, rule, or rider in the General Appropriations Act to be submitted to the governor, to a member, agency, or committee of the legislature, to another such state agency, or to the public. The bill requires TSLAC to develop and make accessible to each such state agency guidelines that assist the agency in determining the reports prepared by the agency that are appropriate for submission through the Texas Digital Archive and the retention requirements for those reports. The bill requires TSLAC to monitor the effectiveness of state agency use of the Texas Digital Archive for the purposes provided under such requirement. The bill establishes that such a state agency that posts a report using the Texas Digital Archive satisfies any requirement in state law that the agency post the report on the agency's website if the agency posts a direct link to the Texas Digital Archive on the agency's website.
C.S.H.B. 2305 authorizes certain executive branch state agencies under the Administrative Procedure Act to provide notice of a proposed rule to each person who has made a timely written request of the agency for advance notice of its rulemaking proceedings by email if the person requests electronic delivery of the notice and includes an email address in the person's written request submitted to the agency.
C.S.H.B. 2305 authorizes executive, legislative, or judicial branch state agencies, including a public university system or public institution of higher education, to transmit and receive state documents in a format prescribed by the agency and in any manner that the agency determines will increase agency efficiency without compromising the delivery of the agency's program to the public. The bill requires a state agency that transmits and receives state documents using the Internet or another electronic medium by rule to develop electronic communication procedures for the agency. The bill authorizes a state agency to continue to use established procedures prescribed by state law or agency policy for the transmission and receipt of documents. The bill expressly does not authorize the electronic transmission or receipt of documents that are prohibited from being electronically transmitted or received under federal law. The bill establishes that the bill's provisions relating to the transmission and receipt of agency documents prevail over any other applicable state law to the extent of any conflict. The bill includes a temporary provision, set to expire September 1, 2020, requiring a state agency to include in the agency's legislative appropriations request submitted to the LBB for the 2020-2021 state fiscal biennium a report on any cost savings or achievements in efficiency recognized from implementing a change in the agency's procedures for the transmission and receipt of state documents during the 2018-2019 state fiscal biennium.
C.S.H.B. 2305 requires the comptroller of public accounts to conduct a study on the mail operations of each state agency in the executive branch that receives an appropriation and requires the study to identify provisions of law relating to the mailing requirements for the agency that impede the efficient transmission and receipt of documents by the agency. The bill requires the comptroller in conducting the study to collaborate with other state agencies to consider the needs or concerns specific to those agencies and, not later than November 1, 2018, to post the findings of the study on the comptroller's website. These provisions expire September 1, 2019.
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Health and Safety Code to authorize the written notice of the report the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) gives a person relating to an initial determination by DSHS that a violation of the Texas Ambulatory Surgical Center Licensing Act occurred to be provided by any certified delivery method. The bill requires such a notice sent by certified email to be sent to the person's last known email address as provided by the person to DSHS and requires DSHS to maintain proof that such a notice was sent. The bill establishes for purposes of such notice that a person's provision of an email address to DSHS is considered consent to electronically deliver notices and correspondence to the person.
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Labor Code to revise requirements relating to the attendance of an employee of an executive-branch and judicial-branch state agency, including a public institution of higher education, at a discrimination training program to require that each such state agency require an employee of the agency who completes the training program on the prevention of employment discrimination to verify the employee's completion of the training program in the manner prescribed by the agency and either file a document that verifies the employee's completion of the training program in the employee's personnel file or retain an electronic record that verifies the employee's completion of the training program in accordance with the record retention requirements applicable to the agency.
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Natural Resources Code to add delivery by certified email to an email address specified by the deputy commissioner of the asset management division of the General Land Office for the purpose of the required notice of an action that may affect state land dedicated to the permanent school fund as an alternative method for the required delivery of such notice by a political subdivision or executive branch state agency, excluding the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and the Railroad Commission of Texas and including a public university system and a public institution of higher education.
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Occupations Code to authorize the Texas Board of Nursing to deliver its annual report regarding any pilot programs developed or approved and a status report on those programs by certified email if the recipient provides an email address to the board for the purpose of receiving the report.
C.S.H.B. 2305 amends the Transportation Code to authorize TxDOT to provide that the written notice of the total amount due for a vehicle driven or towed through a toll collection facility, instead of being sent by first class mail, be sent as an electronic record to a registered owner that agrees to the terms of the electronic record transmission of the information.
C.S.H.B. 2305 establishes that an applicable state agency is not required to comply with the bill's provisions relating to the use of the Texas Digital Archive until TSLAC notifies the agency that the Texas Digital Archive is configured to allow compliance by the agency with those provisions.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
EFFECTIVE DATE
September 1, 2017.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE
While C.S.H.B. 2305 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following comparison is organized and formatted in a manner that indicates the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|