H.B. No. 2753
AN ACT
relating to the powers, duties, and functions of the Legislative
Budget Board.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Article 60.03, Code of Criminal Procedure, is
amended to read as follows:
Art. 60.03. INTERAGENCY COOPERATION; CONFIDENTIALITY. (a)
Criminal justice agencies, the Legislative Budget Board, and the
council are entitled to access to the data bases of the Department
of Public Safety, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, the
Texas Youth Commission, and the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice in accordance with applicable state or federal law or
regulations. The access granted by this subsection does not grant
an agency, the Legislative Budget Board, or the council the right to
add, delete, or alter data maintained by another agency.
(b) The council or the Legislative Budget Board may submit
to the Department of Public Safety, the Texas Juvenile Probation
Commission, the Texas Youth Commission, and the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice an annual request for a data file containing data
elements from the departments' systems. The Department of Public
Safety, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, the Texas Youth
Commission, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice shall
provide the council and the Legislative Budget Board with that data
file for the period requested, in accordance with state and federal
law and regulations. If the council submits data file requests
other than the annual data file request, the director of the agency
maintaining the requested records must approve the request. The
Legislative Budget Board may submit data file requests other than
the annual data file request without the approval of the director of
the agency maintaining the requested records.
(c) Neither a criminal justice agency, [nor] the council,
nor the Legislative Budget Board may disclose to the public
information in an individual's criminal history record if the
record is protected by state or federal law or regulation.
SECTION 2. Section 42.007(b), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(b) Before each regular session of the legislature, the
board shall, as determined by the board, report the equalized
funding elements to the commissioner and the legislature.
SECTION 3. Sections 322.003(d) and (e), Government Code,
are amended to read as follows:
(d) As an exception to Chapter 551 and other law, if a
meeting is located in Austin and the joint chairs of the board are
physically present at the [a] meeting, then any number of the other
members of the board may attend the [a] meeting [of the board] by
use of telephone conference call, video conference call, or other
similar telecommunication device. This subsection applies for
purposes of constituting a quorum, for purposes of voting, and for
any other purpose allowing a member of the board to otherwise fully
participate in any meeting of the board. This subsection applies
without exception with regard to the subject of the meeting or
topics considered by the members.
(e) A meeting held by use of telephone conference call,
video conference call, or other similar telecommunication device:
(1) is subject to the notice requirements applicable
to other meetings;
(2) must specify in the notice of the meeting the
location in Austin of the meeting at which the joint chairs will be
physically present;
(3) must be open to the public and shall be audible to
the public at the location in Austin specified in the notice of the
meeting as the location of the meeting at which the joint chairs
will be physically present; and
(4) must provide two-way audio communication between
all members of the board attending the meeting during the entire
meeting, and if the two-way audio communication link with any
member attending the meeting is disrupted at any time, the meeting
may not continue until the two-way audio communication link is
reestablished.
SECTION 4. Section 322.005, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 322.005. PERSONNEL. (a) The director[, with the
approval of the board,] may employ [necessary clerical and
stenographic] personnel as necessary to perform the functions of
the board.
(b) The director [board] shall set the salaries of the
personnel employed by the director.
SECTION 5. Section 322.016, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (d) to read as follows:
(d) Until the board has completed a review under this
section, all information, documentary or otherwise, prepared or
maintained in conducting the review or preparing the review report,
including intra-agency and interagency communications and drafts
of the review report or portions of those drafts, is excepted from
required public disclosure as audit working papers under Section
552.116. This subsection does not affect whether information
described by this subsection is confidential or excepted from
required public disclosure under a law other than Section 552.116.
SECTION 6. Section 322.0165, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (g) to read as follows:
(g) Until the board has completed a review under this
section, all information, documentary or otherwise, prepared or
maintained in conducting the review or preparing the review report,
including intra-agency and interagency communications and drafts
of the review report or portions of those drafts, is excepted from
required public disclosure as audit working papers under Section
552.116. This subsection does not affect whether information
described by this subsection is confidential or excepted from
required public disclosure under a law other than Section 552.116.
SECTION 7. Section 322.017, Government Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (e) to read as follows:
(e) Until the board has completed a review and analysis
under this section, all information, documentary or otherwise,
prepared or maintained in conducting the review and analysis or
preparing the review report, including intra-agency and
interagency communications and drafts of the review report or
portions of those drafts, is excepted from required public
disclosure as audit working papers under Section 552.116. This
subsection does not affect whether information described by this
subsection is confidential or excepted from required public
disclosure under a law other than Section 552.116.
SECTION 8. Chapter 322, Government Code, is amended by
adding Section 322.019 to read as follows:
Sec. 322.019. CRIMINAL JUSTICE POLICY ANALYSIS. (a) The
board may develop and perform functions to promote a more effective
and cohesive state criminal justice system.
(b) The board may serve as the statistical analysis center
for the state and as the liaison for the state to the United States
Department of Justice on criminal justice issues of interest to the
state and federal government relating to data, information systems,
and research if an executive branch agency or institution of higher
education is not designated by the governor to perform those
functions.
(c) The director may consult the lieutenant governor, the
speaker of the house of representatives, and the presiding officer
of each standing committee of the senate and house of
representatives having primary jurisdiction over matters relating
to criminal justice and state finance or appropriations from the
state treasury.
(d) The Department of Public Safety, the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, and the
Texas Youth Commission shall provide the board with data relating
to a criminal justice policy analysis under this section in the
manner requested.
SECTION 9. Subchapter C, Chapter 552, Government Code, is
amended by adding Section 552.146 to read as follows:
Sec. 552.146. EXCEPTION: CERTAIN COMMUNICATIONS WITH
ASSISTANT OR EMPLOYEE OF LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD. (a) All written
or otherwise recorded communications, including conversations,
correspondence, and electronic communications, between a member of
the legislature or the lieutenant governor and an assistant or
employee of the Legislative Budget Board are excepted from the
requirements of Section 552.021.
(b) Memoranda of a communication between a member of the
legislature or the lieutenant governor and an assistant or employee
of the Legislative Budget Board are excepted from the requirements
of Section 552.021 without regard to the method used to store or
maintain the memoranda.
(c) This section does not except from required disclosure a
record or memoranda of a communication that occurs in public during
an open meeting or public hearing conducted by the Legislative
Budget Board.
SECTION 10. (a) Section 109.0015, Civil Practice and
Remedies Code, is repealed.
(b) Section 42.007(d), Education Code, is repealed.
(c) The subchapter headings to Subchapter B, Chapter 319,
Government Code, and to Subchapter A, Chapter 322, Government Code,
are repealed.
(d) Subchapter A, Chapter 319, Government Code, is
repealed.
(e) Sections 322.006, 656.105, 668.002, and 2152.064,
Government Code, are repealed.
SECTION 11. This Act takes effect immediately if it
receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each
house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.
If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate
effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.
______________________________ ______________________________
President of the Senate Speaker of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2753 was passed by the House on May 5,
2005, by the following vote: Yeas 140, Nays 2, 1 present, not
voting; and that the House concurred in Senate amendments to H.B.
No. 2753 on May 26, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 131, Nays 7,
2 present, not voting.
______________________________
Chief Clerk of the House
I certify that H.B. No. 2753 was passed by the Senate, with
amendments, on May 24, 2005, by the following vote: Yeas 31, Nays
0.
______________________________
Secretary of the Senate
APPROVED: __________________
Date
__________________
Governor