By way of background, the Texas Legislature meets in session every other year (odd numbered years) for a session that runs from roughly mid-January through Memorial Day. Approximately 8800 bills were introduced in the 2001 session. Of that number about 4600 were enacted and the Governor vetoed 82 others.

Things have already begun for the 2003 session. Although the House and Senate won’t be called to order until January 14, 2003, the legislators who won reelection have already begun pre-filing of bills for the upcoming session. As of early December more than 400 bills have been filed.

Keeping track of the bills is complicated because each one may have an introduced version, a committee reported version and yet another version after final action in each house of the legislature. Add to that someone tracking a particular bill must consult the posted agenda for legislative committees and for floor action before the full House or Senate. In most cases businesses and governmental entities either hired a lobbyist or signed up with a commercial tracking service to keep tabs on selected bills. 

While the Legislature Online Website has been around since 1995, it has added a new service which will notify us of changes in the status of a bill. It is now possible to use technology to receive direct notice of important developments without spending any extra money.

How do you find a bill on a subject? It takes a little practice but it can be fairly simple. From the main page of that Website you can search by name, sponsor, bill number, or subject. If none of those techniques work then you can do a complete text search. A warning is in order on text searches; you can get an incredible number of matches if you attempt a search on a common word. For example if you searched for the word “internet” in the 2001 archives you will find more than 400 matches. With a little practice you can learn the keywords and search techniques that will find the proposed legislation on specific topics.

Now for the tip: follow the ”legislation” link at the top of the main page until you get to  Legislation. On that page you will find the “MyTLO” link that appears on the left. Click on the link and you are taken to a page where you can set up your own portal. This page is where you can request direct notice of action on a particular bill and notice of scheduled hearings.

What can we expect from the 2003 session?
It should come as no surprise that the upcoming session will concentrate on financial and Homeland Security issues. Both topics could have tremendous effects upon the development of technology law. 

There could also be an attempt to restrict the use of the Web by governmental entities. The December 2002 issue of Government Technology magazine carried a story that California met resistance in the legislature when it attempted to offer a free on-line tax filing service. California State Sen. Joseph Dunn is quoted as saying that the tax-preparation industry opposed a bill he had introduced that would make on-line filing of state income tax returns free and available to all taxpayers in that state. As a result of a compromise, only taxpayers earning amounts below certain amounts set by the law can use the free service.

Even though Texas does not have a state income tax, there could be other moves to limit governmental Websites. The Electronic Government Services Act has been introduced in at least seven states.  Its stated purpose is to, 

One bill that has been pre-filed by Rep. Hupp would once again attempt to enact statewide privacy protection. Texas does not have either a constitutional or statutory guarantee of privacy for its citizens. What it does have is a hodge-podge of more than 580 statutes that provide some protection for personal information. HJR 18 is fairly simple. It provides, 

Interestingly enough, the first bill introduced in the state senate, SB1, purports to set the rules under which our Internet service providers may disclose “personally identifiable information” such as addresses information from and details about our Internet usage. We’ll have more about that bill and others as the session develops.