HBA-TBM H.B. 2873 77(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 2873
By: Uher
County Affairs
4/1/2001
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, a county or district clerk is authorized to charge a fee
of $1 per page for copies of public records maintained in a paper format or
reproduced in a paper format.  The law does not establish a clear fee for
non-paper copies of records maintained in non-paper format, such as
microfilm or an electronic format, since these documents may or may not
consist of a number of pages.  Many county and district clerks store or
record public records in non-paper formats and are asked to produce copies
of these records in various forms.  For these reasons fees for copies of
public records vary throughout the state.  House Bill 2873 standardizes the
fees charged for copies of public records produced in paper or other
formats.   

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 2873 amends the Government Code to provide that the charge for
providing a paper copy made by a district or county clerk's office is
required to be the fee provided by existing law governing fees charged by
county officers, county clerks, or other applicable law.  The bill requires
a county clerk who provides a copy in a format other than paper of a record
maintained by the clerk to provide the copy and charge a fee in accordance
with applicable General Service Commission rules.   

EFFECTIVE DATE

On passage, or if the Act does not receive the necessary vote, the Act
takes effect September 1, 2001.