Honorable John T. Smithee, Chair, House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
HB1032 by Thompson, Senfronia (Relating to the adoption of the Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
Estimated Two-year Net Impact to General Revenue Related Funds for HB1032, Committee Report 1st House, Substituted: a negative impact of ($152,000) through the biennium ending August 31, 2019.
The bill would make no appropriation but could provide the legal basis for an appropriation of funds to implement the provisions of the bill.
Fiscal Year
Probable Net Positive/(Negative) Impact to General Revenue Related Funds
2018
($152,000)
2019
$0
2020
$0
2021
$0
2022
$0
Fiscal Year
Probable Savings/(Cost) from General Revenue Fund 1
2018
($152,000)
2019
$0
2020
$0
2021
$0
2022
$0
Fiscal Analysis
The bill would amend the Government Code to establish the Legislative Council (TLC) as the official electronic publisher of the Texas Constitution, and the Texas Secretary of State (SOS) as the official electronic publisher of the general and special laws passed by the Legislature and also as the official electronic publisher of state agency rules beginning on or after January 1, 2019. The bill would also require the TLC and SOS to create a process which would verify the trustworthiness of all official electronic documents published by the TLC and SOS and make the material reasonably available for use by the public on a permanent basis. The bill would allow the TLC and SOS to publish legal material after the date upon which the legal material takes effect in a manner required by the bill.
The bill would establish that the SOS and the Records Management Interagency Coordinating Council (RMICC) are jointly responsible for developing an implementation plan under the requirements of the bill and require the RMICC to provide the implementation plan to the legislature no later than September 1, 2018. The bill would also require the TLC to develop an implementation plan in consultation with the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House, the Senate Committee on Administration, and the House Committee on Administration and provide the plan to the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the House no later than September 1, 2018.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
Methodology
Currently, the Secretary of State electronically publishes Legislative bills as they are passed as well as agency rules of Texas.
Based on information provided by the SOS, it is assumed that one contractor would be necessary for three months to accomplish the setup, installation, configuration and coding necessary to adapt the SOS' current computer system to the new requirements. The SOS assumed a contractor cost of $100 per hour for the three month period (520 hours), which would cost $52,000.00 in fiscal year 2018. In addition, SOS anticipates a software cost of $100,000 in fiscal year 2018 as well. For the purposes of this analysis, it is assumed that any additional annual maintenance costs that would be realized each year for the new software could be absorbed utilizing existing resources.
Based on information provided by TLC, it is assumed that duties and responsibilities associated with implementing the provisions of the bill could be accomplished by utilizing existing resources.
Technology
SOS anticipates software costs of $100,000 and programming costs of $52,000 in fiscal year 2018.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies:
103 Legislative Council, 212 Office of Court Administration, Texas Judicial Council, 307 Secretary of State