BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2527

By: Leach

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Concerns have been raised that the meetings of certain water district boards are not easily accessible to all the citizens potentially affected by their decisions. C.S.H.B. 2527 seeks to address these concerns by requiring certain water districts to make audio and video recordings of applicable meetings available online.

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 this bill does not expressly grant any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution.

ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 2527 amends the Government Code to include a water district that serves a population of 50,000 or more among the governmental bodies required to make a video and audio recording of each regularly scheduled open meeting that is not a work session or a special called meeting and make an archived copy of the recording available on the Internet.

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2019.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 2527 may differ from the original in minor or nonsubstantive ways, the following summarizes the substantial differences between the introduced and committee substitute versions of the bill.

The substitute changes the water districts included among the governmental bodies required to make video and audio recordings of open meetings available on the Internet from a water district whose territory includes land in three or more counties to a water district that serves a population of 50,000 or more.