1997 Texas Legislature Press Bills
Fri., Aug. 15, 1997
ANTI
- HB273: Exempts from the open records act information that identifies a person as a participant in a neighborhood crime watch program.
- HB625: Closes off access to information submitted to a governmental body by a potential vendor or contractor wishing to prove its status as a historically underutilized business.
- SB454: Creates an open records act exemption for any information developed under an alternative dispute resolution procedure in which a governmental body participated as party or the facilitator.
- SB407: Closes access to information concerning the licensing of facilities that conduct abortions.
- SB609: Makes confidential the drug and medication records maintained by pharmacists.
- HB1324: Makes confidential the information that a telecommunications servicer must provide to a governmental body regarding 911 service, including recordings.
- SB444: Allows local records clerks to destroy after one year the permanent records of a birth, death, or fetal death, if those records have been recorded in the state Bureau of Vital Statistics database.
- HB1667: Makes confidential the performance evaluations of law enforcement officers who supervise defendants placed under community supervision.
- SB1248: Makes confidential reports and records developed by intermediate care facilities for the mentally retarded.
- HB1808: Makes confidential any information collected by a state conservation board or district if it is collected in response to a specific request from a landowner or tenant for technical assistance related to water quality managment or other conservation plans.
- SB1069: Allows for confidential records in the Motor Vehicle Records Disclosure Act.
- HB2328: Allows hospital boards to hold closed meetings for financial planning.
- HB2906: restricts access to draft audits of any governmental body, including institutions of higher education.
PRO
- HB951: Allows requestors of public records to demand a written statement of the time required to provide the information. It also requires that a bond, not a down payment, be posted for copy orders of more than $100.
- HB1176: Lists information available to the public regarding convictions, deferred ajudication, and sex offender registration maintained by the Department of Public Safety. Also sets fees for copies.
- HB1285: Applies open meetings act to condominium "council of owners" and condo association meetings.
- SB802: Expands the amount of public information available from the Texas Health Care Information Council, as a pro-consumer measure.
- HB1812: Preserves and protects state records and historical data.
- HB1556: Requires state agencies to establish e-mail addresses and use them to communicate with the public.
- SB625: Permits the DPS to release info about juvenile offenders who have escaped from the Texas Youth Commission, including name, physical description, photo, and offense for which they were incarcerated.
- SB66: Requires that a paid public notice of meetings concerning community corrections facilities be published in newspapers before the meeting.
- SB305: Makes Interagency Council of Early Childhood Intervention subject to open records and open meetings act.
- SB381: Adds ajudicated offenses to existing public notice requirements involving sex offenders.
Source: NewsHound, the newsletter of the Society of Professional Journalists, Austin Pro Chapter
Got something to say? The Chronicle welcomes opinion pieces on any topic from the community. Submit yours now at austinchronicle.com/opinion.
