Honorable Charles Schwertner, Chair, Senate Committee on Business & Commerce
FROM:
Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB2566 by West (Relating to request for public information for legislative purposes; providing an administrative penalty.), As Introduced
No significant fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.
The bill would stipulate that an individual member, agency, or committee of the Legislature has a special right of access to public information, including confidential information and information not included in required disclosure law. Requests would be subject to the same procedures and deadlines as public information requests. The bill would require the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to create and make available to government bodies a template for a confidentiality agreement that complies with the bill.
The bill would allow the OAG to impose an administrative penalty of up to $5,000 per violation on a governmental body found to be in violation of the provisions of the bill by not providing requested information in a timely manner.
The OAG anticipates that any additional legal or administrative work could reasonably be absorbed using existing resources.
The number of governmental bodies that may violate the provisions of the bill and incur an administrative penalty is unknown. Because of the unknown number of violations that may occur, the revenue impact of the bill cannot be determined.
Local Government Impact
No significant fiscal implication to units of local government is anticipated.
Source Agencies: b > td >
302 Office of the Attorney General, 304 Comptroller of Public Accounts