By: Hughes  S.B. No. 1463
         (In the Senate - Filed March 4, 2019; March 14, 2019, read
  first time and referred to Committee on Business & Commerce;
  May 6, 2019, reported adversely, with favorable Committee
  Substitute by the following vote:  Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 6, 2019,
  sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
 
  COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR S.B. No. 1463 By:  Nichols
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
 
  relating to the availability of financial information of nonprofit
  corporations for public inspection.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 22.353, Business Organizations Code, is
  amended by adding Subsections (a-1), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) to
  read as follows:
         (a-1)  For purposes of this section, "records, books, and
  annual reports" of a corporation's financial activity:
               (1)  include:
                     (A)  financial records required to be maintained
  and annual financial reports prepared or approved under Section
  22.352; 
                     (B)  any document the Internal Revenue Service
  requires a corporation that is tax exempt under Section 501(a),
  Internal Revenue Code of 1986, by being listed as an exempt entity
  under Section 501(c) of that code, to make available to the public; 
                     (C)  documents containing salary or other
  information related to the compensation of each employee who
  receives more than $75,000 annually from the corporation; 
                     (D)  other annual reports produced by the
  corporation; 
                     (E)  financial statements, including audited
  financial statements; and 
                     (F)  management representation letters prepared
  in connection with an audit of the corporation; and
               (2)  do not include:
                     (A)  contracts and agreements, including
  operating and settlement agreements;
                     (B)  employee personnel files; 
                     (C)  donor names; 
                     (D)  sponsor information; or 
                     (E)  sensitive personal information, including
  addresses, bank account numbers, and social security numbers. 
         (c)  If a corporation anticipates that the fee to be charged
  for preparing a copy of a record or report under Subsection (b) will
  exceed $100, the corporation may provide notice to the person
  requesting the copy requiring the person to pay a deposit of all or
  a portion of the anticipated fee for preparing the copy. The
  corporation may treat all requests for copies received by the
  corporation during seven consecutive calendar days from a single
  person, mailing address, or e-mail address as a single request for
  purposes of calculating the anticipated fee under this subsection.  
  On the date a corporation provides a copy or copies of a record or
  report for which the corporation accepted a deposit under this
  subsection, the corporation shall refund to the requestor the
  difference between the accepted deposit and the actual costs
  incurred by the corporation in providing the copy or copies.
         (d)  A requestor who fails to pay a deposit required under
  Subsection (c) not later than the 15th business day after the date
  the requestor receives notice of the deposit from the corporation
  is considered to have withdrawn the request for the copy or copies
  under this section. A person whose request is considered withdrawn
  under this subsection is not precluded from submitting a new
  request to the corporation for the same records or reports.
         (e)  A corporation may establish a reasonable monthly limit
  of not less than 15 hours on the total amount of hours per calendar
  month that the corporation's personnel may spend responding to two
  or more requests for copies submitted to the corporation by a single
  requestor during a calendar month.
         (f)  Each time a corporation that establishes a monthly time
  limit under Subsection (e) complies with a request for a copy or
  copies under this section, the corporation shall provide to the
  requestor a written statement of the monthly hour limit established
  under that subsection, the amount of time corporation personnel
  spent complying with the request, and the cumulative amount of time
  spent by corporation personnel complying with all requests from
  that requestor during the applicable calendar month in which the
  request is made. The corporation may not include the amount of time
  spent by personnel in preparing a written statement required by
  this subsection in calculating the amount of time spent complying
  with a request. A corporation that provides a written statement to
  a requestor as required by this subsection is not required to
  respond to additional requests for copies from a requestor who has
  exceeded the monthly time limit until the following calendar month.
         (g)  If a corporation determines that all or part of a
  person's request for copies is duplicative of a request for which
  the corporation has previously provided copies to that person, the
  corporation is not required to provide the duplicative copies to
  the requestor and shall certify to the requestor that copies of all
  or part of the requested record or report, as applicable, were
  previously provided to the requestor and that the corporation is
  not required to provide the duplicative copies to the requestor.
         SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2019.
 
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