Honorable Kelly Hancock, Chair, Senate Committee on Business & Commerce
FROM:
Ursula Parks, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB1347 by Watson (Related to an expedited response by a governmental body to a request for public information.), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would amend the Government Code to set expedited response procedures for requests for public information from a governmental body. The bill establishes the procedures that would require the public information officer who responds to a request under the provisions of the bill to have completed training regarding the responsibilities of the governmental body under this bill. The availability of training and oversight is established at the Office of the Attorney General.
The Office of the Attorney General, Employees Retirement System, Department of Licensing and Regulation, Texas Medical Board, Health and Human Services Commission, Department of Criminal Justice, Texas A&M University System Administration, and University of Texas System Administration anticipate any additional work resulting from the passage of the bill could be reasonably absorbed within current resources.
The bill would take effect September 1, 2017.
Local Government Impact
According to the Texas Municipal League, the bill would have a positive fiscal impact on municipalities; however, the cost cannot be determined at this time.
According to the Texas Association of Counties, the fiscal impact to counties to implement the provisions of the bill is not anticipated to be significant.
Source Agencies:
302 Office of the Attorney General, 327 Employees Retirement System, 452 Department of Licensing and Regulation, 503 Texas Medical Board, 529 Health and Human Services Commission, 696 Department of Criminal Justice, 710 Texas A&M University System Administrative and General Offices, 720 The University of Texas System Administration