HBA-AMW H.B. 2749 77(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2749 By: Jones, Elizabeth State Affairs 3/21/2001 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law protects the confidentiality of records of a member of the legislature or the lieutenant governor that are composed exclusively of memoranda of communications with Texas residents and of personal information concerning the person communicating with the legislator or lieutenant governor. Elected county officials also receive correspondence that often contains personal information from constituents, but the confidentiality of these communications is not protected. House Bill 2749 protects the confidentiality of constituent correspondence sent to an elected county official. 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 2749 amends the Local Government Code to provide that records of a county official that are composed exclusively of memoranda of communications with residents of this state and of personal information concerning the person communicating with the county official are confidential. The bill authorizes the county official to disclose all or a part of a record and provides that the disclosure does not violate these provisions. The bill specifies that the method used to store or maintain a record does not affect the confidentiality of the record. The bill provides that the public disclosure of all or part of a written or otherwise recorded communication from a citizen of this state received by a county official in the county official's official capacity is prohibited unless the citizen expressly or by clear implication authorizes the disclosure, the communication is of a type that is expressly authorized by statute to be disclosed, or the official determines that the disclosure does not constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy of the communicator or another person. The bill also specifies that the provisions prohibiting public disclosure do not apply to a communication to a county official from a public official or public employee acting in an official capacity. The bill authorizes a county official to elect to disclose all or part of a communication and that the disclosure does not violate these provisions. EFFECTIVE DATE September 1, 2001.