86R348 SRS-D
 
  By: Paxton, Hughes S.B. No. 838
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to the Internet broadcast of certain open meetings.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Subchapter B, Chapter 551, Government Code, is
  amended by adding Section 551.024 to read as follows:
         Sec. 551.024.  INTERNET BROADCAST AND ARCHIVE OF OPEN
  MEETINGS. (a) This section applies only to a governmental body
  that is an agency within the executive or legislative branch of
  state government to which the total appropriation made in the
  General Appropriations Act from general revenue for any fiscal year
  beginning on or after September 1, 2019, including any amount of
  general revenue transferred to the governmental body under that Act
  for that fiscal year, is greater than $40 million and for which the
  bill pattern for the General Appropriations Act for the same fiscal
  year designates 250 or more full-time employees.
         (b)  A governmental body that becomes subject to this section
  under Subsection (a) for a fiscal year shall comply with this
  section in each following fiscal year.
         (c)  A governmental body subject to this section shall
  broadcast over the Internet live video and audio of each open
  meeting of the governmental body. The governmental body shall
  provide access to the broadcast on the governmental body's Internet
  website.
         (d)  Not later than the seventh day after the date an open
  meeting is broadcast under this section, the governmental body
  shall make available through the governmental body's Internet
  website archived video and audio of the open meeting.  The
  governmental body shall maintain the archived video and audio of
  the open meeting on the governmental body's Internet website until
  the second anniversary of the date the archived video and audio was
  first made available on the website.
         (e)  The governmental body shall provide on the governmental
  body's Internet website the same notice of the open meeting that the
  governmental body is required to post under Subchapter C. The
  notice must be posted on the governmental body's Internet website
  within the time required for posting notice under Subchapter C.
         (f)  The governmental body may use for an Internet broadcast
  of an open meeting of the governmental body a room made available to
  the governmental body on request in any state building, as defined
  by Section 2165.301.
         (g)  The governmental body is exempt from the requirements of
  this section to the extent a catastrophe, as defined by Section
  551.0411, or a technical breakdown prevents the governmental body
  from complying with this section. Following the catastrophe or
  technical breakdown, the governmental body shall make all
  reasonable efforts to make the required video and audio of the open
  meeting available in a timely manner.
         (h)  The governmental body shall consider contracting
  through competitive bidding with a private individual or entity to
  broadcast and archive an open meeting subject to this section to
  minimize the cost of complying with this section.
         SECTION 2.  Section 551.024, Government Code, as added by
  this Act, applies only to an open meeting held on or after September
  1, 2021.
         SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.