BILL ANALYSIS

S.B. 1547

By: Zaffirini

Intergovernmental Affairs

Committee Report (Unamended)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Currently, county clerks charge a fee of $0.10 per page for electronic copies of real property records. The bill sponsor has informed the committee that this fee significantly exceeds the actual cost of document production and is inconsistent with other state law that prohibits the charges for providing public information from exceeding the actual cost of producing the information. S.B. 1547 seeks to make the fee charged for obtaining real property records more fair and reasonable.

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

S.B. 1547 amends the Local Government Code to exclude real property records from the application of the mandatory fee collected by a county clerk for the issuance of an electronic copy of noncertified papers. The bill specifies that, with respect to the requirement for a county clerk who provides a copy of a record maintained by the clerk in a non-paper format to provide the copy and charge a fee in accordance with state public information law provisions relating to responding to requests for information that require programming or manipulation of data and to attorney general rules governing the charges for providing copies of public information, such a record includes real property records.

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or, if the bill does not receive the necessary vote, September 1, 2025.