HBA-SEP H.B. 1872 77(R)BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1872
By: Solis, Jim
State Affairs
6/13/2001
Enrolled



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Prior to the 77th Legislature, state law required the Texas Workforce
Commission (TWC) to prepare, at the request of a state agency, a local
employment impact statement (statement) for a proposed rule that may have
affected a local economy.  TWC assigned the task of preparing these
statements to its Labor Market Information Department (LMI), which is
federally funded for specific activities.  Most statements are not
burdensome, however, the rule changes that did result in a substantial
employment impact caused LMI to expend federal funds for this purpose.  In
addition, LMI lacked the resources to perform a thorough analysis which can
require the services of many professionals not employed by LMI such as
engineers, environmental scientists, geologists, and health specialists.
The agency proposing the rule change may be better equipped than TWC to
analyze and describe such changes.  House Bill 1872 requires the state
agency proposing the rule to prepare a local impact statement on
determining that a proposed rule may affect a local economy. 

RULEMAKING AUTHORITY

It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does
not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state
officer, department, agency, or institution. 

ANALYSIS

House Bill 1872 amends the Government Code to require a state agency, on
determining that a proposed rule may affect a local economy, to prepare a
local employment impact statement.  The bill removes provisions requiring
the Texas Workforce Commission to prepare, on request from a state agency,
a local impact statement for a proposed rule that may affect a local
economy and provisions requiring a state agency to designate a liaison to
furnish requested information during the preparation of the local impact
statement.    

EFFECTIVE DATE

September 1, 2001.