BILL ANALYSIS

C.S.H.B. 192

By: Ortega

County Affairs

Committee Report (Substituted)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The requirement for a county commissioner to complete continuing education instruction in a physical classroom setting is burdensome for some commissioners because sponsoring agencies do not provide the instruction in every county, making it necessary for some commissioners to travel out of county to fulfill the requirement. Online completion of the instruction would solve this issue, as was recently shown by a temporary waiver during the pandemic. C.S.H.B. 192 seeks to provide for such online continuing education, subject to a certain exception.

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. 192 amends the Local Government Code to authorize the online completion of the continuing education instruction required for a county commissioner, except that the bill requires a commissioner to complete the instruction in person in the first 12-month period of the commissioner's first term.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2021.

COMPARISON OF ORIGINAL AND SUBSTITUTE

While C.S.H.B. 192 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 includes a requirement that was not in the original for a county commissioner to complete the continuing education instruction in person in the first 12-month period of the commissioner's first term.