Today's Committee Meetings on the LRL website is a calendar of interim committee hearings with links to agendas. Below are resources related to upcoming Interim Hearings.
November 19th
Senate Committee on State Affairs
Charge: Workforce retention program or deferred retirement option plan (DROP) for Texas Department of Public Safety peace officers
- Hiring and Retention of State and Local Law Enforcement Officers, 2008 - Statistical Tables, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 29, 2012
- Are Pension Reforms Helping States Attract and Retain the Best Workers?, Urban Institute, Program on Retirement Policy, July 2012
- Pensions and Retirement Plan Enactments in 2011 State Legislatures, including deferred retirement option plans (DROP), National Conference of State Legislatures, January 31, 2012
- "DROP Pensions: A Sound Investment or a Waste of Taxpayer Money?," Stateline.org, April 15, 2011
Charge: Health reimbursement accounts and Medicare exchanges for Medicare eligible participants currently covered by and receiving health coverage through the Employees Retirement System, the Teacher Retirement System, the University of Texas, and Texas A&M University
- "Nevada’s Success in Deploying a Private Medicare HIX" (interview with James Wells, executive officer of the Public Employees’ Benefits Program in Nevada), Microsoft in Health, September 18, 2012
- Public Employees’ Benefits Program (PEBP), Policy and Program Report, Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau, January 2012 (identifying Nevada as the first state to offer a Medicare exchange to its retirees)
- Medicare Exchange Health Reimbursement Arrangement (Exchange HRA) Plan Document, Nevada Public Employees' Benefits Program (PEBP), effective July 1, 2011
Topic: Long-term sustainability of the Employees Retirement System group insurance program and the Texas Public School Retired Employee group insurance program pursuant to 2012-2013 General Appropriations Act, Article I, Employees Retirement System Rider 13 and Article III, Teacher Retirement System Rider 16
- Sustainability of the State of Texas Group Insurance Program, Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature, Employees Retirement System of Texas, September 4, 2012
- TRS-Care Sustainability Study and Executive Summary, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, September 1, 2012
Topic: Pension benefit studies submitted to the Legislature regarding Employees Retirement System and Teacher Retirement system pension plans pursuant to the 2012-2013 General Appropriations Act, Article IX, Section 18.03
- Sustainability of the State of Texas Retirement Program, Report to the 82nd Texas Legislature, Employees Retirement System of Texas, September 4, 2012
- Pension Benefit Design Study and Executive Summary, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, September 1, 2012
November 26th
Senate Committee on Open Government
Charge: Public Information Act revisions
- "Dallas Suburbs Lead in Attempt to Deny Public Records," Texas Tribune, October 17, 2012
- State Integrity Investigation: Texas - Public Access to Information, Center for Public Integrity, March 2012
- Public Information Act 2012 Handbook, Texas Attorney General, November 2011
Charge: Security of electronic information
- "New York City and Texas Honored for Cybersecurity Leadership," Public CIO, October 24, 2012
- "9 Lessons From Utah Data Breach," Information Week, May 21, 2012
- State Enterprise Security Plan: Securing Texas Information Resources, Fiscal Years 2007-2012, Texas Department of Information Resources, May 31, 2007
Charge: Government records retention
- "Dallas Police Defend Email Retention Policy," Dallas Morning News, April 25, 2012
- "States Get Social," News Media and the Law, Winter 2011
- Texas State Records Management Manual, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, updated September 14, 2011
- Best Practices Study of Social Media Records Policies, American Council for Technology, March 2011
Charge: Frivolous or overly-burdensome open records requests
- "Texas City Officials Say 'Serial Requestors' Must be Deterred, Activists Worry About Government Transparency," Texas Watchdog, June 18, 2012
- "County Attorney Needs Help With Public Info Requests," Houston Chronicle, May 22, 2012
- Public Access: A Municipal Guide to Open Meetings & Open Records, Bojorquez Law Firm PLLC, January 27, 2012
November 28th
Senate Committee on Natural Resources
Charge: Water rate jurisdiction
- Public Utility Commission of Texas: Sunset Staff Report (See Issue 3), Sunset Advisory Commission, November 2012
- Final Supplement to the Sunset Staff Report on the Public Utility Commission of Texas, (S 1.4 Transfer responsibility for regulating water and wastewater rates and services from TCEQ to PUC.) Sunset Advisory Commission, July 2011
- Comments to Sunset Commission: Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (Proposed transfer of water and sewer rate making authority from TCEQ to the PUC), Sunset Advisory Commission December 15, 2010
- TRWA's Arguments Against Recommendations in Sunset Report (Water rate jurisdiction), Texas Rural Water Association, December 13, 2010
- Should TCEQ Set the Price for Water?, Bickerstaff, Heath, Pollan & Caroom, LLP, January 18-19, 2007
November 29th
House Committee on Ways & Means
Charge: Property and margins tax issues
- "Texas High Court Rejects Challenge to Franchise Tax," Texas Tribune, October 19, 2012
- The Texas Margin Tax and Its Impact on the State's Economic Competitiveness, Texas Public Policy Foundation, September 2012
- Interim Hearings – Week of November 5, 2012, Legislative Reference Library, November 2, 2012 and Interim Hearings – Weeks of June 4 and June 11, 2012, Legislative Reference Library, May 29, 2012
- Texas' Margins Tax: Principles for Reform, Heartland Institute, February 2012
- Per Capita Local Property Tax Levies by County, Texas Comptroller
Senate Committee on Government Organization
Charge: Cost-effectiveness analysis in state agency rule making
- "Regulatory Analysis Act Introduced in Senate," National Small Business Association, September 5, 2012
- Invited Testimony Before the House Committee on Government Efficiency and Reform, Texas Public Policy Foundation, July 11, 2012
- Better Regulation: Improving California's Rulemaking Process, Little Hoover Commission, October 2011
- Cost-Benefit and Other Analysis Requirements in the Rulemaking Process, Congressional Research Service, August 30, 2011
Charge: Protection of state information and electronic data
- House Committee on Public Health: Texas Cyber Risk, Texas Department of Information Resources, April 11, 2012
- Lessons Learned: Pilot Texas Cloud Offering, Texas Department of Information Resources, August 2012 and "Texas Considers the Cloud for Big Savings," San Antonio Express News, July 25, 2012
- Network Security Services, Texas Department of Information Resources
- Texas Cybersecurity Council, Texas Department of Information Resources
- Computer Security Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology - Information Technology Laboratory
