Bill Text: TX HB327 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the Internet broadcast or audio recording of certain open meetings.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-04-27 - Considered in Calendars [HB327 Detail]

Download: Texas-2021-HB327-Introduced.html

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87R1072 MCK-D
By: Howard H.B. No. 327

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the Internet broadcast or audio recording of certain
open meetings.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter B, Chapter 551, Government Code, is
amended by adding Sections 551.024 and 551.025 to read as follows:
Sec. 551.024. INTERNET BROADCAST AND ARCHIVE OF OPEN
MEETINGS. (a) This section applies only to a governmental body
that is an agency within the executive or legislative branch of
state government to which the total appropriation made in the
General Appropriations Act from general revenue for any fiscal year
beginning on or after September 1, 2021, including any amount of
general revenue transferred to the governmental body under that Act
for that fiscal year, is greater than $10 million and for which the
bill pattern for the General Appropriations Act for the same fiscal
year designates 100 or more full-time employees.
(b) A governmental body that becomes subject to this section
under Subsection (a) for a fiscal year shall comply with this
section in each following fiscal year.
(c) A governmental body subject to this section shall
broadcast over the Internet live video and audio of each open
meeting of the governmental body. The governmental body shall
provide access to the broadcast on the governmental body's Internet
website.
(d) Not later than the seventh day after the date an open
meeting is broadcast under this section, the governmental body
shall make available through the governmental body's Internet
website archived video and audio of the open meeting. The
governmental body shall maintain the archived video and audio of
the open meeting on the governmental body's Internet website until
the second anniversary of the date the archived video and audio was
first made available on the website.
(e) The governmental body shall provide on the governmental
body's Internet website the same notice of the open meeting that the
governmental body is required to post under Subchapter C. The
notice must be posted on the governmental body's Internet website
within the time required for posting notice under Subchapter C.
(f) The governmental body may use for an Internet broadcast
of an open meeting of the governmental body a room made available to
the governmental body on request in any state building, as defined
by Section 2165.301.
(g) The governmental body is exempt from the requirements of
this section to the extent a catastrophe, as defined by Section
551.0411, or a technical breakdown prevents the governmental body
from complying with this section. Following the catastrophe or
technical breakdown, the governmental body shall make all
reasonable efforts to make the required video and audio of the open
meeting available in a timely manner.
(h) The governmental body shall consider contracting
through competitive bidding with a private individual or entity to
broadcast and archive an open meeting subject to this section to
minimize the cost of complying with this section.
Sec. 551.025. INTERNET ACCESS TO AUDIO RECORDING OF OPEN
MEETING. (a) This section applies only to a governmental body that
is an agency within the executive or legislative branch of the state
government to which Section 551.024 does not apply.
(b) Not later than the seventh day after the date an open
meeting is held, a governmental body subject to this section shall
make available through the governmental body's Internet website or
a social media account associated with the governmental body an
audio recording of the open meeting.
(c) The governmental body shall provide on the governmental
body's Internet website or a social media account associated with
the governmental body the same notice of the open meeting that the
governmental body is required to post under Subchapter C. The
notice must be posted on the governmental body's Internet website
or a social media account associated with the governmental body
within the time required for posting notice under Subchapter C.
(d) The governmental body is exempt from the requirements of
this section to the extent a catastrophe, as defined by Section
551.0411, or a technical breakdown prevents the governmental body
from complying with this section. Following the catastrophe or
technical breakdown, the governmental body shall make all
reasonable efforts to make the required audio recording of the open
meeting available in a timely manner.
SECTION 2. Sections 551.024 and 551.025, Government Code,
as added by this Act, apply only to an open meeting held on or after
September 1, 2023.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.